The Indian Premier League (IPL) is the most-awaited cricket event each year, and the 2022 edition is something that all cricket fans are looking forward to witnessing. There will be significant and exciting changes that it’s going to hurt to miss. For the first time in a long time, the IPL will be a 10-team affair with Ahmedabad and Lucknow as the new teams.
You can always check some of the latest updates regarding the IPL on 10CRIC India including forecasts and predictions on the scheduled matches. However, there are already plenty of happenings connected to the upcoming season even before 2021 ended. Keep on reading to make sure you have all the information you need!
Two New IPL Teams
The talk that new teams will be joining the IPL has been around for a while even before the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has confirmed it. When the BCCI finally did, the initial plan was to implement the changes on the previous season but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the plans have been delayed and the BCCI decided to add two new teams on the 2022 edition instead.
The BCCI took its time to ensure that all the details are properly rolled before groups and businesses were able to express their interest in purchasing the two new teams. It was only in August of this year when the BCCI has released its Invitation to Tender (ITT) to interested parties and it was available for purchase until October 10, 2021. On October 25, closed bidding was held in the UAE with ten interested parties.
The two successful bidders were the RSPG Group and CVC Capital. RSPG paid a total of 940 million USD for team Lucknow and CVC placed a bid of 750 million USD to win the bid on team Ahmedabad. Here’s how much all companies placed as bids:
|
Bidders |
Bid for
Ahmedabad (INR CRORES) |
Bid for
Lucknow (INR CRORES) |
| Adani Group | 5100 | 5100 |
| Kotak | 4513 | 4512 |
| AllCargo Logistics | 4140 | 4304 |
| Capri Global | 4204 | 4204 |
| Lancer Capital – Avram Glazer | 4128.65 | 4023.99 |
| Hindustan Media Ventures Ltd. | 4275 | 4510 |
| Torrent Sports Ventures Pvt. Ltd. | 4653 | 4356 |
| CVC | 5625 | 5166 |
| RPSG Group Ltd/ | 7090 | 7090 |
The success of this bed spoke so much about how valuable the cricket industry is and BCCI president Sourav Ganguly said that what took place just reiterated the strength of the country’s cricket ecosystem. He also lauded that the IPL itself has a global appeal.
Ganguly welcomed the new teams and said, “The BCCI is happy to welcome two new teams from the next season of the Indian Premier League. I would like to congratulate RPSG Ventures Ltd. & Irelia Company Pte Ltd for being the successful bidders.
“The IPL will now go to two new cities in India viz in Lucknow and Ahmedabad. It is heartening to see the inclusion of two new teams at such a high valuation, and it reiterates the cricketing and financial strength of our cricket ecosystem.”
The Mega Auction, Retention Rules, and Team Salary Purse
Since the team auction concluded, everyone was just waiting for further announcements regarding the IPL 2022 Mega Auction. The BCCI has yet to announce the exact date and time of this event but reports suggest that it could take place in the last week of December 2021 or the first week of January 2022.
There will be changes implemented on the upcoming auction itself as well and even before we get there, the BCCI has already required the old eight teams to submit the list of their retained players based on the requirements that they have set. The eight teams were given until the end of November to submit their lists and now, here are all the players retained by each team:
Delhi Capitals
- Rishabh Pant
- Axar Patel
- Prithvi Shaw
- Anrich Nortje
Sunrisers Hyderabad
- Kane Williamson
- Abdul Samad
- Umran Malik
Royal Challengers Bangalore
- Virat Kohli
- Glenn Maxwell
- Mohammed Siraj
Punjab Kings
- Mayank Agarwal
- Arshdeep Singh
Kolkata Knight Riders
- Andre Russell
- Varun Chakravarty
- Venkatesh Iyer
- Sunil Narine
Rajasthan Royals
- Sanju Samson
- Jos Buttler
- Yashasvi Jaiswal
Chennai Super Kings
- Ravindra Jadeja
- MS Dhoni
- Moeen Ali
- Ruturaj Gaikwad
Mumbai Indians
- Rohit Sharma
- Jasprit Bumrah
- Suryakumar Yadav
- Kieron Pollard
Meanwhile, the two new teams are given the option to target three players (2 domestic and 1 overseas) until December 25. Both teams can pick from the pool of players who have been released by the eight franchises. Since the eight teams have already retained players, their purse for the auction is already less than the two new teams. Here’s how much each team still has in their purse after retaining players:
- Punjab Kings: 72 Crore
- SunRisers Hyderabad: 68 Crore
- Rajasthan Royals: 62 Crore
- Royal Challengers Bangalore: 57 Crore
- Mumbai Indians: 48 Crore
- Chennai Super Kings: 48 Crore
- Kolkata Knight Riders: 48 Crore
- Delhi Capitals: 47.5 Crore
Lucknow and Ahmedabad each have a purse of 90 Crore.
What Will the 2022 IPL Look Like?
While the official schedule of the 2022 IPL hasn’t been released yet, we know that it will likely have a total of 74 matches which is more than what the 2021 edition had (60). The format will stay the same with a group stage and the playoffs.
When it comes to the venue, it still seems like the event will take place in India. Based on when the IPL is usually held, it’s also likely that the next season will start in April. The official dates should at least be announced by February 2022.