The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have issued some Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise owners and officials who wish to attend the IPL 2021 Player Auctions which will take place in Chennai on February 18. Although they don't need to quarantine ahead of the auction, but they will need return two negative RT-PCR COVID-19 tests if they are to be allowed at the venues.
The owners have to take a test 72 hours before the auction day (February 18) and one on arrival at the venue -- Grand Chola hotel in Chennai. A maximum of 13 members will be allowed to represent each franchise at the auction.
"Please note that the team members attending the player auction in Chennai will need to do a RT-PCR test 72 hours before the auction date and submit the negative report. Further, there will a test done in Chennai at the venue for the members attending the auction, details of which will be shared in due course," BCCI CEO and IPL COO Hemang Amin has written to the franchises, according to Cricbuzz website.
The mail has also informed the teams that the trading window closes on February 11 and will reopen after February 18.
"The Player registration for IPL 2021 Auction is in process and the Auction Register will be circulated... The trading window will remain open till seven days prior to the auction date and will close on 11th February 2021 at 5:00 PM (IST)," the mail added.
As per normal practice the trading window will again open the day after the auction and it normally closes a month before the start of the tournament.
"Kindly confirm the names of your team members who will be present at the auction - maximum of 13 members of which 8 will be at the auction table and 5 will be seated in the gallery, to Anaisha (IPL official) by 5th February 2021," the mail read.
Top Australian draws like Steve Smith and Glenn Maxwell were released from Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab respectively on the last day of the retention deadline.
Here is the list of players who will go into the auction pool:
Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Aaron Finch, Chris Morris, Kedar Jadhav, Murali Vijay, Piyush Chawla, Alex Carey, Keemo Paul, Tushar Deshpande, Sandeep Lamichhane, Mohit Sharma, Jason Roy, Sheldon Cottrell, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, Hardus Viljoen, James Neesham, Krishnappa Gowtham, Karun Nair, Jagadeesha Suchith, Tejinder Singh Dhillon, Chris Green, Harry Gurney, M Siddharth, Nikhil Naik, Siddhesh Lad, Tom Banton, Prince Balwant Rai, Digvijay Deshmukh, Nathan Coulter-Nile, James Pattinson, Sherfane Rutherford, Mitchell McCleneghan, Akash Singh, Anirudha Joshi, Ankit Rajpoot, Oshane Thomas, Shashank Singh, Tom Curran, Varun Aaron, Shivam Dube, Umesh Yadav, Moeen Ali, Parthiv Patel, Pawan Negi, Isuru Udana, Gurkeerat Mann, Billy Stanlake, Sandeep Bavanaka, Fabian Allen, Sanjay Yadav and Prithviraj Yarra.
