Even as cricket viewers across the country are awaiting the second session of the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) to resume in September this year, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has started major preparations for the 15th edition of the tournament.

It has been reported that the cash rich league is going to undergo a lot of changes in the upcoming season of IPL, including a mega auction and the addition of two brand new teams. The BCCI will apparently allow all franchises to retain a maximum of four players in their teams ahead of the mega auction which is expected to happen in December this year, and the teams can retain either three Indian players and one overseas player or two Indian players and two overseas players. The salaries of these players would be deducted by the franchises before entering the auction.

It was also earlier announced that two new squads would be added to the tournament starting from the 15th edition of the league. The BCCI will hence increase the purse from 85 crore to 90 crore, meaning an additional 50 crore would be added to the budget of all ten teams. While the mega auction will be held in December, the details regarding the two new franchises is expected to be announced by the end of October. "Some players may like the idea of not wanting to be retained and will want to head into the auction pool," a source close to TOI was quoted as saying.

"That's because there's an increase in the salary purse and two new teams are being added. So, there'll be a rush to grab talent. Expect some leading Indian cricketers to forward their names for the auction," the source reportedly added. The two fresh teams will likely be owned by a couple of business groups, including Kolkata-based RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, the Adani group from Ahmedabad, Aurobindo Pharma Ltd from Hyderabad and the Torrent Group that operates from Gujarat.