Franchises not happy with IPL Auction taking place in the middle of a domestic season

The auction for the 2019 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will be held in Jaipur on December 18, making it the second such event in a calendar year. The auction for the 12th edition is happening early since the tournament will also be held early because of the ICC World Cup which is scheduled in May-July. But an earlier auction hasn’t gone down well with some of the franchises as well as domestic players.

In the past three years, the IPL auction has been held at the end of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament at the IPL franchises’ request since that helps them spotting new talents before making the call. The Ranji Trophy also gets over before the auction gets over and that gives the teams a clearer picture about players’ form.

Domestic T20 tournament to take place two months after IPL auction

This year, the auction is taking place in the middle of the Ranji Trophy which started on November 1 and will continue till February 7. The Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament will kick off on February 21, two months after the IPL auction takes place. According to a Times of India report, the IPL’s governing council (GC) is not functioning at the moment and this has taken the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) technical committee by surprise.

“The technical committee and fixtures committee scheduled the tournament keeping the IPL auctions in mind. However, it’s strange how the IPL auction could be slotted two months ahead of the domestic T20 tournament since there is no GC functioning and no office-bearers were kept in the loop,” ToI quoted a BCCI official as saying.

The Mushtaq Ali tournament has helped the IPL franchises spot talents who have served them well in the glitzy annual carnival. The likes of Khaleel Ahmed, Basil Thampi and others who have made names like that.

Cricketers from nine new states have also registered their names for the IPL auction and the board feels had the Mushtaq Ali tournament held earlier then these players could have got a chance to prove their worth in the shortest format and better their chances of bagging hefty IPL deals, the official said.

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