The Indian Premier League(IPL) mega auction is going to take place on 27 and 28 January in Bangalore. Ahead of the auction, here is everything you need to know about the mega event.
Players’ retention
Mahendra Singh Dhoni joined yellow jersey in the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) 2018 season along with Suresh Raina and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja .
Dhoni was retained for Rs 15 crore while Raina and Jadeja were kept for Rs 11 crore and Rs 7 crore, respectively.
The CSK franchise, back into the IPL fold after serving a two-year ban, have two Right-to-Match options left, which they can use during the IPL auction on January 27 and 28.
Rajasthan Royals, the other franchise to return after a two-year ban, has retained Australia skipper Steve Smith (Rs 12 crore) and surprisingly pushed the likes of star batsman Ajinkya Rahane back into the auction pool.
The other surprise came in the form of Gautam Gambhir, who was sent into the auction pool despite guiding the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to lifting the silverware twice (2012 and 2014).
The Shah Rukh Khan-co-owned franchise retained the West Indian duo of Sunil Narine (Rs 8.5 crore) and Andre Russell (Rs 7 crore).
Similarly, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) released West Indian power-hitter Chris Gayle while retaining India skipper Virat Kohli (Rs 17 crore), South African AB de Villiers (Rs 11 crore) and young Sarfraz Khan (Rs 1.75 crore).
Delhi Daredevils expectedly retained the young Indian duo of Rishabh Pant (Rs 8 crore) and Shreyas Iyer (Rs 7 crore) along with South African all-rounder Chris Morris (Rs 7.1 crore).
Mumbai Indians also went along expected lines retaining their three-time IPL winning skipper Rohit Sharma (Rs 15 crore) along with all-rounder Hardik Pandya (Rs 11 crore) and death-overs bowling specialist Jasprit Bumrah (Rs 7 crore).
Sunrisers Hyderabad also sprang a surprise by releasing India opener Shikhar Dhawan and Afghanistan spin sensation Rashid Khan but retained Australian David Warner (Rs 12 crore) along with pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar (Rs 8 crore).
After another dismal 2017 season, Kings XI Punjab retained just left-arm spinner Axar Patel (Rs 6.75 crore) for the next season
Marquee players
Troubled England all-rounder Ben Stokes and Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin are among the 16 marquee players for the upcoming IPL Players’ Auction in Bengaluru on January 27 and 28.
Australian speedster Mitchell Starc and England captain Joe Root are also among the top foreigners who will be under the hammer in the auction.
Root’s entry in the marquee list is an indication that England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has finally understood what their players want.
Stokes was cleared to play for England again on Wednesday despite being charged with affray. He was earlier suspended by the ECB from international duty for his involvement in an incident outside a nightclub in September that reportedly left a man with a fractured eye socket.
While more than 1000 players had registered for the auctions, the BCCI has pruned the list to 578 players. The players have been bracketed into eight distinct slabs as per their profiles.
The slabs for internationals (Indian and foreign) are Rs 2 crore, Rs 1.5 crore, Rs 1 crore, Rs 75 lakh and Rs 50 lakh respectively while uncapped players are base-priced at Rs 40, 30 and 20 lakh respectively.
“A lot of strategizing and number-crunching is involved before a cricketer is picked at the IPL Player Auction. The dynamic nature of the auction makes it unpredictable and exciting,” IPL Chairman Rajiv Shukla said in a release.
“The eight franchises have given us an indication of what their core would be with their Player Retentions and IPL 2018 Player Auction will be an important step towards the creation of a successful team. The marquee list is full of star players, but I am also looking forward to the uncapped Indian players who have proved their mettle in the earlier editions of the VIVO IPL and are sure to attract high bids.”
Among the 16 marquee players bracketed into M1 and M2 categories, current India players Ashwin, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane are in the top marquee list along with Stokes, who is again expected to trigger a bidding war.
Currently the world’s premier fast bowler Mitchell Starc and T20 match-winner Chris Gayle are also in the M1 category. Some of the veteran internationals in the second tier of the marquee list (M2) are Harbhajan Singh, Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh.
With 13 Indian players in the Rs 2 crore bracket, after a long time franchises will get to choose from current India players.
Murali Vijay, Kedar Jadhav, KL Rahul, Yuzvendra Chahal, Dinesh Karthik are in the top wishlist of the franchises along with Afghan sensation Rashid Khan Arman.
South African pace spearhead Kagiso Rabada is in the Rs 1.5 crore bracket while Brandon McCullum and Faf du Plessis are priced at Rs 2 crore and Chennai Super Kings have their Right to Match Cards (RTM).
Australian dasher Chris Lynn is also in the Rs 2 crore bracket.
As per the list provided, 36 players are in all in Rs 2 crore bracket while 32 have priced themselves in the Rs 1.5 crore zone.
There are 31 in the Rs 1 crore category followed by 23 in the Rs 75 lakh and a whopping 122 in the Rs 50 lakh base price bracket respectively.
There are 62 capped Indian players in the auction while the number of uncapped local players is 288.
Compared to Indians, the number of capped foreign internationals is 92 while 36 uncapped overseas talent have thrown their hat in the ring.
Some of the big uncapped names include Krunal Pandya, Prithvi Shaw and Kamlesh Nagarkoti.
Players with top base price
All the teams, including Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Chennai Super Kings, will take part in the auction. A total of 1,122 players have signed up for the auction in which 778 players are Indians. In IPL auction, star players like Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir and Chris Gayle, who were not retained by their respective franchises, will also take part.
Rs 2 crore
R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, M Vijay, Ajinkya Rahane, KL Rahul, Karn Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Shikhar Dhawan, Gautam Gambhir, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Robin Uthappa.
Dwayne Bravo, Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard, Rashid Khan, Mitchell Johnson, Cameron White, Eoin Morgan, Liam Plunkett, Ben Stokes, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Chris Lynn, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, James Faulkner, Josh Hazlewood, Corey Anderson, Brendon McCullum, Quinton de Kock, Colin Ingram, Angelo Mathews.
Rs 1.5 crore
Aaron Finch, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Kagiso Rabada, Kane Williamson, Kuldeep Yadav, Kyle Abbott, Lendl Simmons, Mark Wood, Amit Mishra, David Miller, Evin Lewis, Faf du Plessis, Harry Gurney, Hashim Amla, Jason Holder, Jason Roy, Jaydev Unadkat, Michael Klinger.
Moeen Ali, Mohit Sharma, Shaun Marsh, Steven Finn, Travis Head, Trent Boult, Moises Henriques, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Nathan Lyon, Peter Handscomb, Ravi Bopara, Washington Sundar.
Rs 1 crore
Adam Zampa, Alex Hales, Jason Behrendorff, JP Duminy, Lasith Malinga, Andrew Tye, Ben Cutting, Carlos Brathwaite, Chris Jordan, Dale Steyn, Daniel Christian, Dwayne Smith, Manish Pandey, Mitchell McClenaghan.
Mohammed Shami, Shakib Al Hasan, Shane Watson, Tim Southee, Tom Curran, Tymal Mills, Umesh Yadav, Vinay Kumar, Mohammed Siraj, Imran Tahir, Mustafizur Rahman, Parthiv Patel, Piyush Chawla, Sam Billings, Samuel Badree, Sanju Samson, Wriddhiman Saha.
-With IANS inputs