The IPL auction for 2020 season is scheduled on December 19, 2019 in Kolkata as decided by the governing council in a meeting held in Mumbai on Tuesday, December 3, 2019. The IPL league is played between April and May every year. This is the first year when the auction will happen in Kolkata, which is the home to the Kolkata Knight Riders franchise co-owned by Shah Rukh Khan.
The man who anchors the IPL auctions
Richard Madley, who is neither a player nor an investor is still a highly popular name in the world of IPL since he is the one who anchors the IPL auctions. He is a Welshman and has been anchoring the auction process right from the league’s inception in 2008. Notably, he is a fine arts auctioneer in the UK and makes his career out of this skill. He was also the last person to hold an auction in the North Tower of the twin towers before it collapsed during the 9/11 terrorist attack in 2001. Having anchored the IPL auction over the past nine seasons, Richard Madley will be seen holding the hammer of god on December 19, 2019 when he will anchor the IPL auction 2020 for the 10th season in line.
The maximum cap available for auction
IPL is a franchisee based league. The governing council will allot a maximum amount for the season for every team. For instance, the cap was Rs 82 crore for IPL 2019 season and it will be Rs 85 crore for the IPL 2020 season that can be spent on a maximum of 25 players which includes 8 overseas players.
Why auction is necessitated
Every team must have between 16 and 25 players which can include a maximum of 8 to 9 overseas players. During the off-season, the teams usually release some players on grounds of underperformance, unavailability or injury. The auction conducted during the start of every IPL season is meant for the teams to boost their squads by inducting new entrants to fill up the empty slots.
What happens during the auction?
Each team can spend up to the maximum amount allowed on their squad including the current players. The amount remaining on their wallet will decide how much they can make available for the auctioning process in order to hire the new entrants to their teams.
IPL 2020 auction is coming up
As the teams are preparing to participate in the IPL 2020 season auction to take palce on December 19, 2019, here are the figures showing the funds left with them out to hire the new players to fill in their missing gaps.
(Source: https://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/ipl-players-auction-on-december-19-in-kolkata-119110501117_1.html)