The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has issued Letters of Intent to both the newly added franchises, Ahmedabad and Lucknow, indicating that the IPL will expand to ten teams starting in 2022. For the uninitiated, CVC Capital Partners paid 5,625 crores for the Ahmedabad franchise, while RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group paid 7,090 crores for the Lucknow franchise.
The much-anticipated Mega-Auction 2022 is expected to take place in February, ahead of the IPL 2022 season. The eight existing teams have announced their list of players who will be retained. The franchise has kept a total of 27 players, including 19 Indians and eight international players. The remaining players are likely to be re-admitted to the auction pool.
The two new teams (Lucknow and Ahmedabad) have been given the right to chose three players each before the mega-auctions in order to level the playing field for all of the franchises.
The Lucknow franchise has roped in Andy Flower as the head coach for the upcoming edition of the tournament. Also, Gautam Gambhir and Vijay Dahiya have been selected as the mentor and assistant coach respectively. If reports are to be believed, KL Rahul is likely to be the captain of the team.
As for the Ahmedabad team, former Indian pacer, Ashish Nehra is in line to become the team’s head coach, while Vikram Solanki is in line to be the team’s “Director of Cricket”. Recent reports also suggest that Hardik Pandya is tipped to lead the franchise in the upcoming edition of the tournament. However, nothing has been official as yet.
Both franchises have yet to make an official announcement about their “three picks” for the IPL 2022 Mega Auctions.