New Delhi, Dec 16: The protests over the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act notwithstanding, the players' auction for the Indian Premier League will go ahead in Kolkata as scheduled on Thursday. There have been reports of violence in West Bengal but Kolkata hasn't exactly been affected. It is reliably learnt that Delhi Capitals' management team that will be representing the franchise at the auction will be reaching Kolkata on Tuesday to start their final preparation. IPL 2020 Auction: Indian Premier League Player Auction in Numbers, Country-Wise Cricketers' List.

"As of Monday evening, IPL auctions are on. Franchises will start arriving by tomorrow evening and Wednesday morning," a senior BCCI official told PTI.

As many as 332 cricketers will go under the hammer at the IPL auction in Kolkata on December 19 with Australia's Glenn Maxwell and South African Dale Steyn among those opting for the highest base price of Rs 2 crore.

This year's auction is a small one with only 73 slots are there to be filled in the eight franchises and only 29 of them can be foreign buys. The amended Citizenship law, which seeks to provide citizenship to non-Muslim religious minorities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, has been met with strong protests across north-east and West Bengal.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)