After the conclusion of the Indian Premier League 2020 two months ago, the attention quickly shifts to the next edition of the tournament. According to Mumbai Mirror, teams have been given a deadline of January 21 to decide the players they want to retain for next season. The trade window is currently open, and the player auction is planned to take place in the second week of February.
It is going to be a small auction as there is not going to be a major revamp of all players. David Malan is likely to be one of the most coveted players during this auction as the English batsman has been top of the ICC T-20 rankings due to consistent performances for England. Meanwhile, teams will also look into bolstering the squad by trading players that don’t fit their idea while going forward.
IPL 2021 was initially expected to see big changes as reports emerged late in 2020 that one more team is going to be added and a major auction is set to take place. Eventually, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) decided to stick with eight teams during the annual general meeting in December. Two new teams will be added to IPL 2022.
As of now IPL 2021 is expected to happen in India since domestic cricket has already got the nod from BCCI. Syed Mushtaq Ali T-20 tournament is going to soon commence, while England is also going to tour India for long series across all formats. However, IPL is altogether a different ball game due to the number of games and players from across the globe participating in the tournament. IPL 2021 might have to emulate the format of the last edition.