The auction returns. Will chaos follow?

Auctions in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), and the number 12, seem to have some sort of numeric connection.

Let me explain.

When the BPL first began, it was basically a mini version of the Indian Premier League (IPL), trying to create a blend of glamour, cricket and business, but at an understandably smaller scale.

All the teams had flashy names and flashier jerseys, some teams even had their own anthems, and Bollywood stars alongside local celebrities performed at the opening and closing ceremonies. The players' auction was also a significant part of the model.

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BPL 12 auction breakdown: How the teams stack up heading into bidding war

The first two editions held in 2012 and 2013, respectively, had a players' auction. In the first one, Pakistan's Shahid Afridi received the highest bid, as the Dhaka franchise bought him for $700,000, followed by the West Indian juggernaut Chris Gayle, who Barishal picked up for $551,000.

That season, all six franchises had an icon player, meaning the top local players were equally divided among the sides. Out of the remaining local players, all-rounder Nasir Hossain was the highest earner, as Khulna bought him for Tk 1.68 crores.

But after the tournament, many of the franchises could not cough up the exorbitant amounts they had bid for the players in the auction, which was the genesis of the payment issues in the BPL -- a problem that still persists.

The following season, authorities reduced the pay bracket and introduced a new payment schedule, hoping that would stop the payment issues from reemerging.

This time, all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan was the highest paid cricketer, fetching $365,000 from Dhaka, and Pakistan's Imran Nazir was in second position, going to Chattogram for a prize tag of $280,000.

However, the precautions hardly worked, as the payment issues resurfaced. Moreover, the fixing scandal in BPL came to light, forcing the board to delay the third season for over a year to clean up the mess and resume the competition in a renewed way.

One of the many changes they had adopted was the removal of the auction system, replacing it with a players' draft, where all players in a category would get the same remuneration. The board also allowed teams to sign players outside of the draft if they could.

Now, coming back to the auction's connection with the number 12, the auctions for the first and second editions were held in the same year: 2012.

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BPL revives auction system after 12 years

The first one was held on January 19 – nearly a month before the competition kicked off -- and the second one on December 20, again almost a month prior to the league.

If one wants to go even deeper in search of connections, BPL 1, and BPL 2 have had auctions thus far – and what number do we get by putting 1 and 2 together? You know it, 12.

And now, almost 12 years later after the last auction, bidding wars are set to return in BPL, and that too in the 12th edition!

The BPL auctions connection with the number 12 has continued, but hopefully, the chaos that followed the previous bidding wars will not follow this time.