BCCI has Put Plans to carry out the Tender For the New IPL Teams

BCCI has planned to postpone the tender for the new IPL teams that was supposed to be carried out in the may. It has been put on hold owing to the pandemic. As India is facing the second wave of deadly coronavirus. BCCI has been badly affected by it and It is not conducive for the BCCI to float the tender for the IPL teams.

Once the situation normalises to the pre-covid days, BCCi will then think of carrying out the tender for the IPL.

It was being speculated that from next year, IPL will have 10 teams. Two more new teams were expected to be incorporated into the list by the end of the may. This was planned to take place this year. But all the plans have been stalled due to the coronavirus.

A senior official from BCCI has confirmed regarding this matter saying that plans to carry out the inclusion of two new teams have been halted for now. They are unsure as to when this task will resume.

“Time is not right to even talk about the new IPL teams at this stage. We have to first decide the way forward on the suspended season and then only decisions can be taken on the new teams for IPL 2022. No discussion in this regard is happening at this stage in the BCCI. We don’t see any moment on this before July. We can’t give any timelines at this stage. As I said, no discussion currently in this regard is taking place in BCCI for now,” the BCCI official explained.

Lately, IPL has been postponed indefinitely with many players being tested positive for the coronavirus in the bio-bubble. With 31 matches yet to be played, BCCI is in the process to release the revised guidelines to conduct the remaining IPL matches. It is being speculated that the remaining matches will be played in the month of September just before the T20 world cup.

A senior BCCI source speaking to news agency PTI earlier this year had suggested the BCCI wants to finalize the new franchises by May. This would have given the teams adequate time to delineate their plans for IPL 2022.

“The 10 team IPL will roll on from next year and the bidding process and finalisation of the new franchises will be completed by the month of May this year. Once the teams are finalised, they can start their operational work which takes considerable time,” the source claimed.

A delay in the tender for the new IPL teams will certainly put interested parties on the backfoot. Setting up an IPL franchise requires considerable effort, and the BCCI would hope the process gets completed as soon as possible.

The venue for the same is yet to be finalized with UK, UAE, Sri Lanka poised to be the viable destination for the IPL.