HIL to hold auction even though sixth team hasn’t been finalised

By Tushar Bhaduri

The Hockey India League (HIL) is set to go ahead with its auction on Sunday even though one of the participating teams in the competition is yet to be identified.

Thev league is supposed to feature six teams, but only five have been finalised till now. The five franchises named so far represent Delhi (Wave group), Ranchi (Patel- Uniexcel group), Punjab (Jaypee group), Lucknow (Sahara India) and Mumbai (Burman family) have joined the league so far.

“Negotiations are on. We are hopeful of finalising a deal before Sunday. But even if that is not the case, we will go ahead with five teams in the auction,” Hockey India secretary general Narinder Batra told Mail Today on Thursday.
Sardar Singh is one of the six marquee players for the Hockey India League

Sardar Singh is one of the six marquee players for the Hockey India League

“The sixth team can join later and can have access to players who have not been acquired in the auction. There are 245 players in the auction pool, and only 144 will feature in the tournament (24 in each franchise).

There is also the provision of franchises trading players. So, the sixth franchise can have a strong squad despite making a late entry,” Batra said.

The auction, which was earlier scheduled for December 1, has been delayed by a fortnight.

The league itself will now be held from January 17 to February 10, as against January 5-February 3 as earlier envisaged.

“We could not delay the auction any further,” Batra said.

“The franchises will need time to finalise their coaching and support staff once the auction is out of the way.”

The International Hockey Federation has provided a window for the tournament, and most players will not be available beyond a certain date due to other commitments.

“All other aspects have been taken care of. The umpires, officials and venues have been finalised. After the auction, the squads will need to be together for a period of time in the lead-up to the competition for team- building and co-ordination.

“All the teams will have to assemble at least seven days before the start of the league. Visa formalities have to be completed. That’s why the process cannot be delayed any further,” Batra, who is also the chairman of the HIL, said.

There will be quite a few similarities between the HIL auction and that of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

“There will be a professional auctioneer for the purpose in Bob Hayton from the United Kingdom. The players’ career statistics will be flashed during the auction as is done in the IPL auction,” he said.

India’s Sardar Singh, Sandeep Singh and SV Sunil, Jamie Dwyer (Australia), Moritz Fuertse (Germany) and Dutch legend Teun de Nooijer have been named the marquee players and their auction will precede that of other players.

They will get a contract worth at least 115 per cent of the highest successful bid for a player.