The player auction for the 14th edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 will be taking place on February 18 in Chennai, IPL tweeted on Wednesday. After the last edition of the tournament was held under strict bio-bubble conditions in the UAE between September 19 and November 8 last year, it is expected that the 2021 edition of the tournament can be expected to take place in India.
According to some media reports, the upcoming season of the cash-rich tournament will be taking place in its original April-May window, but the venue and dates for IPL 2021 are yet to be announced by BCCI. Tweeting about the auction date, IPL GC wrote: “ALERT🚨: IPL 2021 Player Auction on 18th February Venue 📍: Chennai How excited are you for this year’s Player Auction? 😎👍Set your reminder folks”.
🚨ALERT🚨: IPL 2021 Player Auction on 18th February🗓️
Venue 📍: Chennai
How excited are you for this year's Player Auction? 😎👍
Set your reminder folks 🕰️ pic.twitter.com/xCnUDdGJCa
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) January 27, 2021
Exactly a week ago, the list of players that were retained by the various IPL franchises was officially announced and several big players like Lasith Malinga, Glenn Maxwell, and Steve Smith found themselves were excluded from the contracts of their respective franchises for the 2021 edition of the tournament.
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139 players were retained while 57 were released ahead of the auction. However, the biggest announcement ahead of the auction was the axing of Rajasthan Royals skipper Steve Smith, who was not retained by the franchise. Sanju Samson will be leading the side that finished last on the points table in 2020.
Veteran pacer from Sri Lanka, Lasith Malinga will also be ending his 12-year association with the Mumbai Indians (MI) as his contract was not renewed. Malinga did not take part in the 2020 edition of the tournament citing personal reasons.
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Other players to not play in the 2020 edition include Chennai Super Kings (CSK) stars Harbhajan Singh and Suresh Raina, who ruled themselves out citing personal reasons. Harbhajan was released by the franchise, while Raina’s contract has been renewed by the franchise.
