The Indian Premier League has been the most popular cricket event that fans would tune in to each year. However, the 2022 edition has to be a cricket event that many fans are looking forward to with so much excitement. Some changes are expected to take place this year and everyone is excited while waiting for the details to be revealed.

Speaking of details to reveal, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has finally confirmed when the 2022 IPL Mega Auction will be. Many have speculated that the auction will happen around the end of December 2021 or early January 2022 but based on Cricket.com’s report, it will happen on the first week of February instead.

“The IPL 2022 auction is all set to take place in the first week of February. The report also stated that it will be a two-day affair as it was in 2018 but the IPL GC is planning to make it a lot grander this time. Bangalore and Hyderabad have emerged as the two frontrunner cities for the IPL 2022 auction to be held keeping better screening process in mind,” the report said.

This means, however, that the specific date is still not yet revealed. Still, fans are happy to at least know when the auction is. The auction is an important event to monitor because this is when people would know which teams will have the best cricketers today. Fans who also love to wager on cricket and IPL betting apps make sure that they won’t miss this event to help them have informed decisions on their future bets.

What We Know So Far

The two new teams, which are Lucknow and Ahmedabad, are the main reason why changes are taking place in the 2022 IPL. Even before the auction, player retention rules were already released and the eight teams have already chosen the players they will be keeping. Here’s a list of the retained players by the eight teams:

Royal Challengers Bangalore:

• Virat Kohli (Rs 15 cr)
• Glenn Maxwell (Rs 11 cr)
• Mohammed Siraj (Rs 7 cr)

Mumbai Indians:

• Rohit Sharma (Rs 16 cr)
• Jasprit Bumrah (Rs 12 cr)
• Suryakumar Yadav (Rs 8 cr)
• Keiron Pollard (Rs 6 cr)

Punjab Kings:

• Mayank Agarwal (Rs12 cr)
• Arshdeep Singh (Rs 4 cr)

Sunrisers Hyderabad:

• Kane Williamson (Rs 14 cr)
• Abdul Samad (Rs 4 cr)
• Umran Malik (Rs 4 cr)

Chennai Super Kings:

• Ravindra Jadeja (Rs 16 cr)
• MS Dhoni (Rs 12 cr)
• Moeen Ali (Rs 8 cr)
• Ruturaj Gaikwad (Rs 6 cr)

Delhi Capitals:

• Rishabh Pant (Rs 16 cr)
• Axar Patel (Rs 9 cr)
• Prithvi Shaw (Rs 7.5 cr)
• Anrich Nortje (Rs 6.5 cr)

Kolkata Knight Riders:

• Andre Russell (Rs 12 cr)
• Varun Chakravarthy (Rs 8 cr)
• Venkatesh Iyer (Rs 8 cr)
• Sunil Narine (Rs 6 cr)

Rajasthan Royals:

• Sanju Samson (Rs 14 cr)
• Jos Butler (Rs 10 cr)
• Yashasvi Jaiswal (Rs 4 cr)

Meanwhile, the two new teams are given a drafting deadline until December 25. However, recent reports suggest that this deadline is likely to get extended. These new teams can draft all players who haven’t been retained by the eight teams but it’s still up to the players whether they will sign with the new teams.

All teams get to have a total of Rs 90 cr purse and since the eight teams have already retained players, they will have lower purses compared to the new teams. Here’s how much the eight teams now have after retaining players:

• Royal Challengers Bangalore: Rs 57 cr
• Mumbai Indians: Rs 48 cr
• Punjab Kings: Rs 72 cr
• Sunrisers Hyderabad: Rs 68 cr
• Chennai Super Kings: Rs 48 cr
• Delhi Capitals: Rs 42.5 cr
• Kolkata Knight Riders: Rs 48 cr
• Rajasthan Royals: Rs 62 cr

When is the IPL 2022?

With the IPL Mega Auction Date still unclear, this is also the case for the schedule of the IPL 2022. However, based on when the auction will be, it’s likely that the IPL itself will start in March. The venue is still assumed to be in India. When it comes to how many matches there will be, the event will likely have 74 matches in total.

This isn’t the first time when the IPL will be a ten-team affair. The last time it happened was in 2011 with Kochi Tuskers and Pune Warriors as part of the league. However, BCCI’s relationship with these teams wasn’t stable and both teams had to be let go. It’s only this year that the BCCI is confident to add more teams to the league and this time, they are more specific with contract details.

Tags: 2022 IPL, Indian Premier League, IPL, IPL 2022, IPL Mega Auction