The Indian Premier League (IPL) will enter its 18th season next year, and an important stop en route to that day will be Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, where the squads of the 10 franchises will be finalised at the mega auction scheduled for November 24-25.
After the news of the auction to be held at an overseas venue came out, the names of Dubai, London and Saudi Arabia started doing the rounds, before the port city of Jeddah was finalized by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) as the city of choice.
The Abadi Al Johar Arena, named after the famous Saudi singer, will be the venue hosting the event. The arena is a 14,000 square meter area venue and has a seating capacity of 15,000.
The franchises will reportedly be staying at Hotel Shangri-la, which is nearest to the venue.
The BCCI officials flew to Saudi Arabia after the venue was finalized, in order to finalize the logistical requirements.
ABOUT THE AUCTION
In total, 1574 players had registered for the auction, which was cut down to 574 players and includes 39 fresh entries at the request of the franchises.
Interestingly, the auction has been scheduled in the middle of the first Border Gavaskar Trophy Test between India and Australia in Perth. The match began on November 22, and the IPL auction will be held on the third and fourth days of the Test.
However, the start time of the auction has strategically been kept at 3:30 pm IST, so that it begins only after the day's play in Perth ends, even if play extends for 30 minutes after the scheduled end-time of 2:50 pm IST.
Another important update coming for the IPL Governing Council is about the accelerated process, which will begin after the 116th player.
According to a communication to the franchises from the the BCCI: "For your planning purposes, please note subject to timings it is envisaged that the accelerated process will start after player No. 116. The first accelerated process will cover all the players from 117-574. Franchises will be asked to nominate a set number of players from this group by 10 pm on the evening of Nov 24.
"Once these players (117-574) have been presented, franchises will be requested to submit the names of players (unpresented/ unsold) from all those on the full list of 574 for further accelerated presentation."
