IPL 2020 auction date announced: venue shifted to Kolkata

The much-awaited auction for the forthcoming season of Indian Premier League (IPL) next year will take on December 19 this year. For a change, the auction will take place in December.

The BCCI has also decided to change the venue of the auction this year. While traditionally, Bengaluru has hosted the event, Kolkata will be the host for the upcoming edition. This will be the last small one before franchises disband next year and prepare to assemble fresh squads from 2021 at a mega auction. Thus all the teams are more or less expected to only add finishing touches to their current squads.

In the last auction, all the eight franchises were permitted to retain five players. The board is yet to announce the numbers of players the franchise can retain but one can expect the Indian Premier League governing council to allow the teams to retain the maximum number of players.

All the eight teams of the tournament were originally allotted INR 85 crore (US $12 million approx) to build their teams for next year's edition. In addition, all the teams will have INR 3 crore more in their purse from the last edition's auction. Delhi Capitals have the biggest balance – INR 8.2 crore. The Delhi based outfit is followed by Rajasthan Royals (INR 7.15 crore), Kolkata Knight Riders (INR 6.05 crore), Sunrisers Hyderabad (INR 5.3 crore), Kings XI Punjab (INR 3.7 crore), Chennai Super Kings (INR 3.2 crore), defending champions and the most successful IPL team Mumbai Indians (INR 3.05 crore) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (INR 1.8 crore).

Talking about last year's auction, 351 players were in contention for 70 possible vacant spots. Eventually, a total of 60 were sold, including 40 Indians and 20 overseas players. Pacer Jaydev Unadkat and mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy were the costliest buys. Both the players went for INR 8.4 crores to Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab respectively.