IPL 2019 season to start early, auction scheduled for December in Jaipur

Mumbai: England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Cricket Australia (CA) on Tuesday confirmed that their players will only be available to play in the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL) 2019 till May 1 next year.

With the ICC Cricket World Cup set to kick off on May 31 in England next year, the IPL will reportedly commence as early as March 29 and go on till the third week of May.

According to a report in Mumbai Mirror, the IPL 2019 auctions will be held on December 17 and 18 in Jaipur, keeping in mind the early start of the season.

However, the franchises first want some clarity on the venue of the tournament as the report goes on to add that it could be moved out of India due to the general elections.

South Africa and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are possible venues for the eight-team tournament.

“We wanted the auction to be conducted after the venue is known so that we could have chosen our players accordingly but the BCCI has its own timelines to follow,” a franchise official said.

“We understand that the venue would be known by then,” another official added.

India will play their first round-robin game against South Africa in Southampton on June 5.