IPL mega auction concept to be abolished? Arun Dhumal reveals

The chairman of the IPL Governing Council Arun Dhumal has made a huge revelation on whether or not the mega auction concept of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will be abolished.

In the marquee, Indian Premier League (IPL), a mega auction is held after every interval of 3 years. The last mega auction was held in 2022 when the two new teams – Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants – joined the league to make it a 10-team competition.

The mega auction concept has been criticized by many experts as they believe that it doesn’t let the teams settle in properly for a longer period of time. There were also speculations about the concept being abolished and now the chairman of the league has broken his silence on the matter.

During an interaction with Sportstar, Arun Dhumal officially confirmed that they have no plans to move away from the mega auction concept and confirmed that it will be held next year. Dhumal also highlighted that the concept has benefitted small teams like Afghanistan.

“We will have the mega auction for sure, where you get to choose three-four players and then you have a new team. That makes it more interesting and that format will continue.

“Hopefully, the mega auction will be as big and as good as we have had earlier given newer talents coming in not from India and other countries. Teams like Afghanistan have also benefitted as they could showcase their talent.”

Recently, the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 schedule was announced by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). However, the BCCI only revealed the schedule for the first 21 matches due to the general elections in India. The first phase of IPL 2024 is set to be held from March 22 to April 7 and the remainder of the schedule will be announced later by the governing body.

We are confident of organizing things smoothly this time – IPL Governing Council Arun Dhumal

The chairman of the IPL Governing Council has also stated that hosting the IPL 2024 will be challenging but they are confident of a smooth conduct of the process.

“Given the size of our country, and since we have to have a home-and-away format that requires travel through the length and breadth of the country, it is a logistical challenge.”

“So, we are confident of organising things smoothly this time. Even in 2019, the IPL was played in a home-away format in its entirety despite the general elections. This time, too, once the dates for the elections are out and we have clarity about the dates and the phases for the polls, we can work out the next phase of the IPL. It is challenging for sure, but we will have a solution to that.”

When asked about the possibility of a break between the two phases of IPL 2024, Arun Dhumal said that they would increase the number of doubleheaders in case there is a break to ensure the competition ends by May 25-26. The reason behind this move is the commencement of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 in the first week of June. He elaborated:

“This time the challenge is that we are starting with the T20 World Cup in the first week of June, and we were planning to close the tournament by May 25 or May 26 as the team will have to travel to the US and that’s a different territory altogether.

“(For the) first time, the tournament will be held there and it’s a new thing, so the players need to be there early to have some sort of practice games ahead of the tournament.

“There could be a situation where we will have to keep a little bit of a gap, keeping election schedules in mind. We might have to increase double-headers, but we will be able to give better clarity once the polls are over.”

In the IPL 2024 opener, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will lock horns with the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on March 22 in Chennai. The high-profile game will see the return of the legendary MS Dhoni to action and this might be his final season as a player in the league.