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head of the 2021 Indian Premier League (IPL) auction, official digital streaming partner of the IPL, Disney+ Hotstar, is confident of a higher viewership in the new season.

Having won the rights from Sony a few years ago, the IPL is Disney+ Hotstar’s most significant program and is pitching this to advertisers before the tournament starts in April.

They are projecting a reach of 260-280 million viewers on the platform, with a projected 50-60% higher watch time.

Disney+ Hotstar will also be able to utilise three other major cricket tournaments in their marketing pitch, including the India-England series, Asia Cup, and ICC World T20.

They had over 300 brands advertise on their platform in 2020 and will look to grow on that as the 2021 IPL auction and regular season approaches.

There are 292 total players in the 2021 auction, with each side eligible to sign a maximum of eight international players.

35 Australians have entered into the 2021 Indian Premier League (IPL) auction, taking place this Thursday.

Cricket’s premier T20 competition offers some of the largest pay packets in the sport, with each team given an 85 crore (approximately AUD$14.2 million) salary cap.

Prior to the auction, teams are allowed to spend as much of that budget as desired in order to retain current players.

With the retention window closed on 20^th January, any players not re-signed by their teams are eligible to join the auction.

Prominent Australian players in the auction include Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Jhye Richardson, Shaun Marsh, and Aaron Finch.

All players have different base salaries, with stars Steve Smith and Glenn Maxwell both worth 200 lakh (approximately AUD$355,000).

The cheapest available Australians including Wes Agar and Josh Inglis are listed as 20 lakh (approximately AUD$30,000).

In non-auction news, Kings XI Punjab will be renamed as Punjab Kings for the upcoming season.

The franchise, joint-owned by Mohit Burman, Ness Wadia, Preity Zinta and Karan Paul, have not won an IPL title since the tournament’s inception in 2008.