India, cricket’s most powerful and richest nation, appears set to strengthen its links with Saudi Arabia.

Cricbuzz has reported that Riyadh, the capital and financial hub, is the frontrunner to host the Indian Premier League mega auction likely to be held on November 25-26. The report stated that Indian cricket administrators are in the midst of several visits to Saudi Arabia.

Jeddah, a port city on the Red Sea increasingly popular with Indian tourists, had been considered along with renowned cricket locations Dubai and London.

Vienna, strangely, with Austria not a cricket country of note, had also been apparently explored and so too Singapore – further underlining recent efforts for the South East Asian country to re-emerge as a major cricket destination as I reported last month.

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But it appears Riyadh will get the nod to stage the IPL’s mega auction, which is a major event for the world’s most popular and lucrative domestic league. It has echoes of free agency in American sports and will be one of the most watched spectacles in cricket this year.

The staging of the event in Saudi Arabia, however, will turn heads. There has been speculation that Saudi Arabia, amid an apparent sportswashing campaign, will try to infiltrate a sport that by some metrics is the second most popular in the world.

Saudi Arabia have increasingly tried to appeal to India, the country with the biggest population in the world and an emerging financial powerhouse, through tourism and business.

Wooing the country through cricket – by far India’s most popular sport – is something that has obvious appeal. There had been reports that Saudi Arabia were interested in starting its own T20 franchise league – which would tackle head on the money-spinning IPL – but authorities have evidently wisely decided against that and instead focused on investment.

The relationship will only heighten long-held suspicions that the IPL could extend to the lengths seen in major American leagues and take up over six months of what is already a cramped cricket calendar.

That would be akin to a death knell of international cricket, with cricket power brokers constantly trying to find ways to straddle the balance but the IPL – especially armed with copious amounts of Saudi money – appears inevitably headed towards expansion.

And their next step might be to start holding matches abroad and – the way things are trending – Saudi Arabia could be a likely destination given this blossoming relationship.

Cricket is deemed a minority sport in Saudi Arabia with fandom mostly confined to South Asian expatriates.

Saudi Arabia Cricket Federation previously had issues with non-compliance relating to incomplete audited accounts for 2020, but were subsequently deemed to be in the clear.