The 12th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is most likely to begin from the last week of March and will continue till the third week of May, a few days prior to the start of the 2019 Cricket World Cup in England and Wales.
However, the tournament may be shifted to South Africa or the United Arab Emirates (UAE) due to the General Elections in the country during that time period.
Meanwhile, it has been reported that the players’ auction will take place in Jaipur this year. There will be a two-day auction i.e. on December 17 and December 18. The same has drawn mixed reactions from the franchises as some of them wanted it to take place after the venue for the forthcoming IPL edition was agreed upon.
“We wanted the auction to be conducted after the venue is known so that we could have chosen our players accordingly but the BCCI has its own timelines to follow”, a franchise official was quoted as saying in Mumbai Mirror.
“We understand that the venue would be known by then,” another franchise official mentioned. Nevertheless, the IPL officials refrained from making any comments surrounding the same.
Back in 2009, the entire tournament was played in the Rainbow Nation and thereafter in 2014, the initial matches of the league were held in the UAE after which the playoffs were played in India.
The report also adds that Australia and England players will not be available after May 2 as they will leave for their national duties to prepare for the upcoming World Cup.
