Indian premier league season 14 is set to be starting soon and the fans are more than excited to
experience the saga. Ipl season 13 was a big hit who’s closing was celebrated with Mumbai Indian’s big win in the month of November 2020. Even though it was held completely in a
different way. Unlike every year, the matches were not held in India but in UAE with no fans in
the stadium due to the poor condition of the coronavirus pandemic in India. Now, as a better condition of the pandemic can be observed, these are the changes that will be experienced in India’s best-loved league, 2021.
Record-breaking player Auction
In the IPL mini-auction, South African All rounder, Chris Morris became the most expensive buy of all time. It took Rajasthan Royals Rs. 16.25 crore, to make the very talented player a part of their team. Krishnappa Gowtham was the highest uncapped buy from India who made a place in Chennai Super Kings at a huge price of Rs. 9.25 crore. New Zealand’s batsman Devon Conway who recently smashed 5 successive half-centuries in the game of T20 cricket, went unsold who had entered the auction at a base price of Rs 50 Lakh.
A lot of players have been bought by the IPL clubs at a hefty amount in the auction.
No Sri Lankan player will play IPL
In the history of the Indian Premier League, it will happen for the first time that no player from the island country will take part in this year’s tournament matches. After Lasith Malinga’s retirement and Isuru Udana’s release, no player was part of the IPL team. Sri Lankan players like Udana, Kusal Perera, and Thisara Peera were part of the auction but they all went unsold. Now, only coaches and mentors will be part of the IPL, 2021.
“I think we still have the representation, so we’re happy (joking about him and Sangakkara being in the IPL). But yeah, a bit disappointed. I’m sure a few of the guys were on the radar, but I think it’s a tough place because you’re looking at 20-odd slots for the overseas players and the majority of the slots were for those fast bowlers and all-rounders, which I think Sri Lanka lacks a little bit of that,” ESPNcricinfo quoted Jayawardene.
Cricket Australia Limits Use of Players for Advertising Purposes
Cricket Australia (CA) has made it clear that for the upcoming IPL, no Australian player will advertise for promoting betting, fast food, alcohol, and tobacco brands. The BCCI has issued an advisory regarding this to all the IPL franchises.
According to cricbuzz.com, the BCCI quoted Cricket Australia (CA) as saying, “A full team photo — for use only by the sponsors of the relevant IPL team in print media in India and any such photo should not involve or include the name or branding of a company primarily engaged in the business of alcohol, fast food/fast-food restaurants, tobacco or betting.”
CA also mentioned that not more than one player from a Big Bash League (BBL) side and a state team should be used in advertising campaigns.
The mail from BCCI said, “Cricket Australia has imposed the following restrictions on Franchisees’ use of Australian players in advertising and/or promotional materials: In any specific advertising or promotional activity featuring any Australian pFlayer (in any medium including TV, radio, press, outdoor, internet, point of sales or on-pack advertising)…
“… Each Franchisee may only use: (a) no more than 1 Player who has a Central Contract with Cricket Australia; and/or; (b) no more than 1 Australian Player from the same Australian State; and (c) no more than 1 Australian Player from the same Big Bash team…”
19 players from Australia will be playing for the Indian Premier League 2021. The players will be- Steven Smith, Maxwell, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Richardson, Rilie Meredith, Ben Cutting, Moises Henriques, Dan Christian, Josh Hazlewood, Marcus Stoinis, Pat Cummins, Chris Lynn, Adam Zampa, Daniel Sams, Kane Richardson, Josh Philippe, Andrew Tye, David Warner, and Mitchell Marsh
IPL Team Kings XI Punjab renamed
Ahead of IPL season 14, the Indian Premier League franchise on Wednesday revealed the name change of the Punjab Team from Kings XI Punjab to Punjab Kings. Now, Punjab Kings have tweeted the news with a video about their name change and changed their social-media handles to the new name.
“We are now going to be officially called Punjab Kings,” said the actress as well as the co-owner Preity Zinta on Star Sports.
The team’s co-owner, Ness Wadia told PTI “We just felt that we wanted to relook at things. We needed to rebrand and reinvent ourselves after so many years. As they say, if something doesn’t work, change it and try and get it working.”
The team’s other co-owner as well as a successful actress announced on Twitter about the new name and logo as, “This new year I had hinted that 2021 was going 2 b d yr of new beginnings. So here is our new name & logo as promised. Now Sadda Punjab will be #PunjabKings. I’m super thrilled & excited to share r new vibe wit r friends, fans & well-wishers.”
He also mentioned “Kings XI Punjab had a reference to the playing XI. Punjab Kings is more inclusive and will resonate better with the fans. We had been thinking of a name change for the last couple of years. COVID came in 2020 so we put it on hold. We thought if we could do it at the big auction next year or the smaller auction this season, so finally decided to do it this year.”
Punjab Kings captain KL Rahul said, “I liked the name Kings XI, But the team is a lot more than this XI. It’s supposed to feel like a family, it’s supposed to feel like a whole unit. Just a little change wouldn’t harm,” he added.
Mumbai and Ahmedabad may host the entire tournament
The T20 Leagues are likely to start in April- May and in the recent developments, BCCI is considering hosting the entire IPL 2021 in the stadiums of Mumbai and Ahmedabad.
“At the moment there are discussions to host the league matches in four stadia in Mumbai — Brabourne Stadium, Wankhede Stadium, DY Patil Stadium, and the Reliance Cricket Stadium. The play-offs are expected to be held in the refurbished Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera,” According to zee news, an official in the know of things told news agency IANS.
The BCCI treasurer had last month said that the 2021 IPL is most likely to be hosted in India if the situation of declining Covid-19 cases in India prevails.
Vivo is back to sponsor IPL
“Vivo is back with us,” IPL chairman Brijesh Patel announced in Chennai ahead of the beginning of the 2021 auction.
The Chinese tech company Vivo was replaced by the Dream 11 company as the IPL sponsors ahead of IPL season 13 because of the aftermath of military clashes at the India-China border in June 2020.
Now again, like last few years except 2020, Vivo will sponsor the Indian Premier League While Dream11 will continue to be listed as an official partner of the IPL as since 2018.