The 2020 edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) was held successfully in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The thirteenth season of the cash-rich league finished with Mumbai Indians (MI) defeating Delhi Capitals (DC) by five wickets at Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.
The epic tournament took place without any glitches, and the credit goes to Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) along with several organisers, whose collective efforts managed to bring this event to completion.
Now the focus will shift to IPL 2021 and fans might witness some major developments in the fourteenth season. According to a report in The Hindu, there are plans of BCCI conducting a full-fledged entire mega-auction before the start of the tournament.
Earlier, there were concerns over the mega-auction taking place as per the schedule because of the delay in the 2020 season. Since the 2021 edition is likely to begin in a little-over-four-months, it was expected that the decision to organise full auction would take place after the conclusion of the fourteenth season.
Meanwhile, the report also states that the IPL 2021 could feature a ninth team and BCCI has specified to the franchises about their intentions concerning the auctions.
The main motive behind the move to add a new team is to accomplish financial goals after the COVID-19 pandemic and nationwide lockdown.
The new franchise is likely to be from Ahmedabad, where the Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA) has renovated the Motera stadium with a record capacity of 1,10,000.
