The IPL auction returns to India for the first time since Kochi in 2022, and the Impact Player decision waits another month

The next IPL auction will be held in India. That was the headline decision from the IPL Governing Council meeting on Tuesday, and it ends a run of three consecutive auctions staged outside the country. The last one held on Indian soil was the mini-auction in Kochi in December 2022, before the 2023 season.

Three years, three foreign cities

Dubai took the auction ahead of the 2024 season. Jeddah hosted the mega auction that reshaped every squad before 2025. Then came Abu Dhabi, where the Etihad Arena staged the most recent mini-auction on 16 December 2025 for the 2026 season. Three straight years, three cities outside India, and a sizeable travelling party each time.

The 2027 edition will be a mini-auction rather than a mega one, which matters more than it sounds. A mega auction rebuilds the league from close to scratch and carries the scale to justify a showpiece venue. A mini-auction fills gaps. Most franchises finish one with a handful of signings and a lot of hours in a ballroom.

The franchises made the case

According to Cricbuzz, the teams had raised the logistical and operational strain of moving full delegations abroad for what is, in squad-building terms, a smaller event. Owners, coaches, analysts, scouts and support staff all travel. For a mega auction, that cost is easier to swallow. For a one-day mini-auction, several franchises argued it was not.

Those views were reportedly registered around the Abu Dhabi auction and fed into Tuesday’s decision. The Governing Council agreed to look at an Indian city for this year’s event. The mega auction due before the 2028 season could still go overseas.

Now they have to find the hotel rooms

No venue has been named yet, and the reason is unglamorous. The BCCI needs more than 100 hotel rooms for a couple of nights to house the franchise delegations, and the auction window falls between October and December, which is peak wedding season across India. Five-star availability in that period is the binding constraint on which city gets it.

Kochi, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Chennai have all hosted auctions before. Which one lands this time will come down to a booking sheet rather than a bidding war.

The Impact Player call has been kicked down the road

The Governing Council did not settle the other question on its agenda. The future of the Impact Player rule was left open, with another meeting expected in about a month to take a final call.

The rule arrived in 2023 and lets each side bring on a substitute who can bat or bowl a full allocation, which in practice gives teams a 12th player. Its critics have been loud and senior. Rohit Sharma said in 2024 that he was not a fan and that the rule would hold back the development of Indian all-rounders, pointing to players like Washington Sundar and Shivam Dube getting fewer overs. Zaheer Khan complained the same year that the rule was producing half all-rounders rather than complete ones, though he later came round to it on the grounds that it had opened doors for uncapped Indian players. The counter-argument has always been simple enough: scores have gone up, and so has the entertainment.

Cricbuzz reported on 30 August that the BCCI had written to the franchises for their views. Most of them are understood to oppose the rule, yet the same teams appear to want it kept for one more season. Squads were assembled with the extra slot in mind, and pulling it now would leave some of those squads looking oddly shaped. The argument from that camp is that if the rule is going to go, it should go before a mega auction rather than before a mini one.

That logic points at 2028, not 2027. A month from now, the Governing Council will say whether it agrees.

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