The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 matches will be held in India without a crowd, reported news agency ANI, quoting sources in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
“IPL 2022 will be held in India without a crowd. Likely venues are Wankhede Stadium, Cricket Club of India (CCI), DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai and Pune if needed,” said the source.
This comes as the BCCI and IPL team owners were to discuss potential backup venues for the upcoming edition of the league in a virtual meeting on Saturday.
“Owners have been invited for the meeting and it will be held virtual,” a team official was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
The 2020 edition of IPL was entirely held in the UAE while the second half of the 2021 edition was held across the Emirates after the event’s suspension in India due to the second wave of Covid-19.
The IPL is usually held in the April-May window.
Player auction
The IPL player registration for 2022 closed on 20 January and a total of 1,214 players (896 Indian and 318 overseas) have signed up to be part of the player auction.
The two-day mega auction will see 10 teams bidding for some of the finest talents in world cricket. The players’ list incorporates 270 capped, 903 uncapped, and 41 Associate players.
The detailed list is as follows: Capped Indian (61 players), Capped International (209 players), Associate (41 players), Uncapped Indians who were a part of previous IPL seasons (143 players), Uncapped International who were a part of previous IPL seasons (6 players), Uncapped Indians (692 players), and Uncapped Internationals (62 players).
“If every franchise were to have the maximum of 25 players in their squad, 217 players will be taken in the auction (of which up to 70 may be overseas players),” IPL in a statement said.
The Indian Premier League’s two new teams — Ahmedabad and Lucknow also named their draft picks ahead of the upcoming mega auction for the 2022 season.
Ahmedabad has chosen Hardik Pandya ( ₹15 crore), Rashid Khan ( ₹15 crore), and Shubman Gill ( ₹8 crore). While Lucknow has opted to go with KL Rahul ( ₹17 crore), Marcus Stoinis ( ₹9.2 crore), and Ravi Bishnoi ( ₹4 crore).
Vikram Solanki has been appointed as Ahmedabad’s Director of Cricket while Hardik Pandya will be leading the franchise. Gary Kirsten will serve as the batting coach and mentor of the Ahmedabad franchise while Ashish Nehra has been appointed as the head coach.
Talking about Lucknow, KL Rahul will don the captaincy hat. Andy Flower has already been named the coach of the Lucknow franchise while former India batter Gautam Gambhir will serve as the mentor of the franchise.
The IPL auction is set to be held on 12 and 13 February in Bengaluru.
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