The mega auction for the 14th edition of the Indian T20 League (2021) is likely to be postponed as the pandemic continues to affect the global sporting scenario.
The auction, ahead of the 2021 Indian T20 League season, would have seen all the eight teams rebuilding their sides from scratch, but given the situation, it is believed that the teams will rather go ahead with the current set of players, meaning that there be will be no auction at all. The teams, however, will be able to bring in a replacement in case of an injury or unavailability of the players.
The 13th edition of the tournament begins on September 19 in the UAE and will run until November 10. With that being said, there will reportedly be a four-and-a-half-month gap between this year’s edition and the next year’s edition, and the BCCI is looking at a similar 50-day window to host 60 matches next year, which is expected to make up for the losses the associated companies have bore due to the pandemic.
"What's the point in doing a mega auction now and not having enough time to plan it properly? Indian T20 League might as well go ahead and finish the 2021 edition of the tournament and then see how it wants to go about," a source told TOI.
As things stand, all the teams are running on par with the BCCI as far as the decision is concerned simply because there will be little time between the two editions, and planning the strategy for the auction usually takes a lot more time.
In order to stage the 14th edition, BCCI will have to work within fine margin given that England tour India to play a T20, Test and ODI series starting somewhere from mid-January.
Feature image courtesy: AFP / Sajjad Hussain
