Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 is all set for two new teams as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is almost certain to approve the decision in their upcoming Annual General Meeting (AGM) on December 24. The state associations and members have reportedly also been briefed about the situation ahead of the highly-anticipated meeting.
As per Inside Sport, the inclusion of Ahmedabad city in the IPL roster is almost certain. Besides the names of Lucknow, Kanpur, Pune will also be in the fray, however, if the AGM decides to increase more than 1 team for IPL 2021 or IPL 2022.
As for the race to be the owner of new teams in the cash-rich league, Adani Group owned by Gautam Adani and RPSG owned by Sanjeev Goenka are strong contenders although it isn’t certain as of now.
A BCCI source was quoted as saying by Insidesport, “Time constraints are there but the full auction will be in the interest of everyone. IPL Governing Council will formally decide on this in next 3-4 weeks and communicate to everyone concerned.”
It isn’t the first time that IPL will feature ten teams. In 2011, ten teams had featured in the season while in 2012/2013 editions of the IPL, nine teams had taken part.
As per Time of India (TOI), the current IPL format will be refurbished in case new teams are added. As per the current format, all the teams get to play 14 league games and each of the 8 teams plays against every other twice.
The new format, however, dates back to 2011 when ten teams featured in the IPL. As per the format, 10 teams will be divided into two groups of five with all the sides playing 14 matches only in the league stages. facing the other four teams in their group twice (home game and away game), facing four teams in another group once, and then the remaining team twice.
