BCCI likely to organise upcoming IPL mini-auction in Turkey

The Board of Control for Cricket (BCCI) in India might conduct the upcoming IPL auction overseas with Istanbul being the most likely venue. As per a cricket news website, the regular venue Bengaluru is also an option but there are chances that the board might shift the auction to Turkey this year.

BCCI has witnessed quite a few changes of late. While Arun Singh Dhumal was chosen as the new IPL chairman as he succeeded Brijesh Patel, the news that grabbed the most number of headlines was that Sourav Ganguly was not re-elected as the BCCI chief and he was replaced by former India cricketer and 1983 World Cup winner Roger Binny. Jay Shah was one of the people who retained their positions and he is continuing as the secretary of the governing body.

BCCI likely to conduct mini-auction in Turkey

In the form of Viacom, IPL has a new broadcaster on board. In June this year through e-auction, Star India fetched the TV rights for INR 23,575 crores. On the other hand, Viacom bagged the digital rights for the Indian sub-continent at a whopping INR 23,758 crores. Viacom and Times Internet Limited shared the rest of the world’s rights for a combined figure of INR 1,057 crores.

BCCI has been in talks with different franchises regarding the possibility of holding the auction overseas (quite likely in Turkey) and it will most likely be organised in December this year as reported by a cricket news website. Since the mega auction got over last year, the upcoming mini-auction will most likely be a one-day affair. The auction purse was INR 90 crore last year and it will be stretched to INR 95 crore this time around.

Meanwhile, former BCCI chief Ganguly had expressed his desire to contest for the position of Cricket Association of Bengal’s president after his ouster from the board. But recently backed out of the race and paved way for his elder brother Snehashish Ganguly by saying that there will be no election and it will be uncontested.