A global audience, a combined budget approaching £50 million and some of the most exciting players in the cricketing world standing as prizes. The IPL auction befits a tournament of its prestige. Flog it, this certainly is not.
Hosted in the ITC Gardenia in Bangalore on 12 & 13 February, the eight franchises which make up the Indian Premier League will do battle over prized assets and eye bargains with the aim of assembling a title-winning squad.
It’s easy to be bombarded with statistics, values, player lists and rules & regulations, so here is a run down of the important information ahead of the auction:
This year’s IPL will be contested between eight teams, following Pune Warriors’ expulsion from the tournament by the BCCI. Each team has a starting budget of Rupees 600m – Just under £6mil/$10mil from which to make their purchases.
Each side must have a minimum of seven Indian players, with the rest of the eleven made up by a maximum of four overseas representatives. In total, each squad is allowed to recruit nine overseas players.
Nottinghamshire have two players in the auction this year, batsman Alex Hales and all-rounder Samit Patel will both be entered at the top-bracket price, which starts at Rupees 20 million, among the likes of Jacques Kallis and Brad Haddin. Former Outlaws Adam Voges and David Hussey are also set to be snapped up in the auction.
Samit Patel's name is in the hat
All 514 available players have been assigned values between R 1 million, and the aforementioned 20 million.
The first group of players to be auctioned will be a group of sixteen marquee signings. Boasting the most exciting talent in limited-overs cricket, this group includes Virender Sehwag, Kevin Pietersen and Mitchell Johnson, as well as David Warner, Yuvraj Singh and Darren Sammy.
After this group, players have been split into the following specialist categories – batsman/fast bowler/spinner/all-rounder/wicketkeeper.
After the capped players are auctioned (including Hales and Patel), the uncapped players will follow. Due to the large numbers, this is likely to follow onto the next day, given the numbers involved. This will be the first time uncapped players will be auctioned, giving franchises the chance to look for bargains to offset their big buys.
For the first time in the competition’s history, this auction features the use of ‘right to match’ cards, allowing franchises to buy back former players by matching the auction’s highest bid, a move intended to allow sides to retain a core of players.
The following list details each franchise’s retained list, remaining budget and right-to-match cards:
Chennai Super Kings
Players retained: MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Dwayne Bravo
Auction purse remaining: Rs 210 million
Right-to-match cards available: 1 (not eligible for a capped India player)
Delhi Daredevils
Players retained: None
Auction purse remaining: Rs 600 million
Right-to-match cards available: 3
Kings XI Punjab
Players retained: David Miller, Manan Vohra
Auction purse remaining: Rs 435 million
Right-to-match cards available: 2
Kolkata Knight Riders
Players retained: Gautam Gambhir, Sunil Narine
Auction purse remaining: Rs 380 million
Right-to-match cards available: 2
Mumbai Indians
Players retained: Rohit Sharma, Lasith Malinga, Kieron Pollard, Harbhajan Singh, Ambati Rayudu
Auction purse remaining: Rs 210 million
Right-to-match cards available: 1
Rajasthan Royals
Players retained: Shane Watson, James Faulkner, Ajinkya Rahane, Sanju Samson, Stuart Binny
Auction purse remaining: Rs 225 million
Right-to-match cards available: 1
Royal Challengers Bangalore
Players retained: Virat Kohli, Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers
Auction purse remaining: Rs 305 million
Right-to-match cards available: 1
Sunrisers Hyderabad
Players retained: Shikhar Dhawan, Dale Steyn
Auction purse remaining: Rs 380 million
Right-to-match cards available: 2
The thunderous excitement of Twenty20 cricket returns to British shores this summer with the launch of the Natwest T20 Blast in May. Don’t miss your chance to see some of the most talented one-day cricketers in the world at Trent Bridge and secure your seats now.