As the biggest edition of IPL auction unfolds on Saturday, 578 cricketers could see their fortunes swing in a bidding war spread across two days.

This year’s auction will see the return of two franchises — Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals — returning to the fold after serving a two-year ban.

Additionally, one of the major changes this year is the increase in the player salary cap. The cap for each team last season was ₹66 crores; this year it has gone up to ₹80 crore.

Also, in the 11th edition, the teams can keep a maximum of 25 players and a minimum of 18 players, according to the rules formulated by IPL authorities. This would include eight overseas players.

Out of a total of 1,122 players who had registered for the auctions, 578 will be in the race to get a contract. This includes 360 Indian (62 capped and 298 uncapped) and 182 overseas players, including 34 uncapped and two associates players.

In the auctions last year, 66 players were sold through intense bidding, and the spending stood at ₹91.15 crore.

English cricketer Ben Stokes, the most expensive player last year who was bought by Rising Pune Supergiant for ₹14.5 crore, is expected to be one of the players in the midst of a bidding war this time.

In this year’s auctions, players have been clubbed into eight slabs.

The slabs for internationals (Indian and foreign) are ₹2 crore, ₹1.5 crore, ₹1 crore, ₹75 lakh and ₹50 lakh, while uncapped players are base-priced at ₹40 lakh, ₹30 lakh and ₹20 lakh.

First in line

Ravishandran Ashwin, who missed out last year’s IPL due to an injury, will be the first player to come under the hammer. Industry watchers say the strategy in all likelihood could be spending 80 per cent of their funds on hand in buying marquee players and making up the rest with uncapped players.

With ₹2 crore as the highest reserve price, 36 players, including 13 Indians, have opted for the top bracket. This includes marquee players like R Ashwin, Gautam Gambhir, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh, Christopher Gayle, Ben Stokes, Kane Williamson, Glenn Maxwell and Joe Root.

Additionally, M Vijay, KL Rahul, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Robin Uthappa, Yuzvendra Chahal and Karn Sharma have also set their base price at ₹2 crore. There are 31 players in the ₹1 crore category, 23 in the ₹75 lakh and 122 in the ₹50 lakh base price bucket.

BCCI has also mandated that in the next two auctions, the cap will further go up to ₹82 crore and ₹85 crore, respectively. Star players like Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni are amongst the 18 who have been retained by their franchises.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW