IPL Auction 2018: All you need to know

The new edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is all set to commence in the month of April as the tournament will enter in its new decade. The Governing Council, on Monday, announced that the grand opening ceremony will be held in Mumbai on April 6, the day before the actual tussle between the eight teams starts. The hosting rights of the mega finale have also been earned by Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai having won the last season in style for the third time in 10 years.

The teams are set to be overhauled after the contracts of all the players expired last year. Even the suspended franchises, Rajasthan Royals and the most celebrated Chennai Super Kings are set to return to the fray. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is leaving no stone unturned to make the event a grand success like every year. Also, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has served the special window for the cash-rich league which means no international cricket will be played during IPL.

The superstars of world cricket will now be available for the whole season for their respective franchises. The mega auctions are approaching fast and here we bring all the things which you need to know regarding the event:

Date: January 27 and 28 (Saturday and Sunday)

Venue: Ritz-Carlton, Bengaluru

Time: 9 AM IST

Telecast: Star Sports (TV) and Hotstar (Online) (Also you can follow the CricTracker’s live feeds of the event)

Country-wise players to go under the hammer

More than 1000 players had sent their names for the upcoming auctions but only 578 of them were shortlisted and they are set to go under the hammer this weekend. A total of 360 Indian and 218 overseas players would be waiting to know their fate during the two days of intense action between the franchises.

However, only 182 players could be actually bought given that the maximum squad strength allowed for a single team is 27 among out of which only 9 could be foreign cricketers.

Here is the team wise list of the players:

India:

Capped Players: Check out the list of all the capped Indian players here.

Uncapped Players: Check out the list of all the uncapped Indian players here.

Australia:

Australians have been participating in the IPL ever since its inception and even this time around as many as 54 players are interested to play.

Click here to know all the players from down under who have sent across their names for the auction.

England:

England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have finally understood the importance of their players featuring in this T20 extravaganza. They have now permitted many of their cricketers to take part in the league. As many as 24 players will have their eyes when the event will get underway in Bengaluru.

Here is the list of players from the United Kingdom who are willing to make the difference.

South Africa

The players from South Africa have been actively playing in the Indian cricket festival ever since it took shape. There is no surprise that even this year a plethora of cricketers are eager to take part and shine in the tournament.

Here are the details of the total 41 players from South Africa.

New Zealand

The Kiwi players are the good boys in the game of cricket but they never compromise their performances and manage to garner all the attention. This time too they are set to lit up the IPL with their extraordinary skills.

Click here to know the list of players.

Sri Lanka

Even the players from the island nation are not behind and are excited to prove their mettle in the IPL, the tournament which provides a platform to a lot of youngsters around world cricket.

Here is the list of all Sri Lankan players.

Bangladesh

Bangladesh have been excellent in the limited overs format and T20s as they have excelled in their own Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) as well. A total of 6 players from the country have been shortlisted and there is a possibility that almost all of them would be able to find a place in some or the other teams.

Check out the list of the players here.

Afghanistan

Afghanistan has taken the game of cricket by the storm. The most improved cricketing nation in last few years was awarded with the prestigious Test status by ICC. They have also been making their country proud by playing in the T20 leagues all over the world. It is time now that they should make it big in this Indian cash-rich competition.

Here is the full list of players from Afghanistan.

Zimbabwe and other Associate nations

Even the players from associate nations are hoping to leave the mark in the upcoming season of IPL. Zimbabwe cricketers who are currently busy playing the tri-nation series in Bangladesh would also be having their one eye on the event in Bengaluru.

Full list of the players from Zimbabwe and Associate nations.

Marquee players

Marquee players are the ones who will go under the hammer first up on the first day of the mega auctions. All the cricketers in this list have marked their base price in between Rs 1 crore to 2 crore. A total of 16 players are divided into two categories M1 and M2 as most of them are set to earn huge amounts from whichever teams they will get picked for.

There are 6 Indians in the marquee list which includes the likes of Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir, R Ashwin, Ajinkya Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan and Harbhajan Singh. There is also a possibility that few teams might use their Right to Match card for some of these players. The prominent overseas players like Mitchell Starc, Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo, Chirs Gayle, Ben Stokes among others have been placed in this list.

These players are expected to garner a lot of attention during the event and might even go for some mindboggling prices.

Click here to know the full list of marquee players.

Retained players

The player retention event took place in Bengaluru earlier this month as it was also broadcasted on Star Sports. All the franchises unveiled their cards as most of the teams managed to come to terms with their key players. While few teams retained three players, a couple of them went on to retain only two cricketers. Rajasthan and Punjab franchises surprisingly retained only a solitary player and decided to build the whole squad in the auction itself.

Here are the details of all the retained players team-wise:

Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja.

Delhi Daredevils: Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant and Chris Morris.

Kings XI Punjab: Axar Patel.

Kolkata Knight Riders: Andre Russell and Sunil Narine.

Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah.

Rajasthan Royals: Steve Smith. 

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Sarfaraz Khan.

Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

Right to Match (RTM) card

The RTM card is going to be a useful ploy for the teams looking to retain some of their impact players. However, there is a limit to use this option during the auction. The teams who have retained three players already can use a maximum of two RTMs over their players. The teams who have retained one or two players have an option of using a maximum of three RTM cards.

Also, in case a team has retained three Indian players, they cannot use RTM on the Indian cricketer during the auctions.

RTM cards left with each team:

CSK – 2

DD – 2

KXIP – 3

KKR – 3

MI – 2

RR – 3

RCB – 2

SRH – 3

Purse available

The purse was increased to Rs 80 crore this year by IPL Governing Council after all the franchise owners insisted. Once the Player retention event was done and dusted, the amount left with all the eight franchises were clear. The teams will have to spend carefully to build a decent squad which will win them the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League.

CSK – 47 Crores

DD – 47 Crores

KXIP – 67.5 Crores

KKR – 59 Crores

MI – 47 Crores

RR – 67.5 Crores

RCB – 49 Crores

SRH – 59 Crores

Rules

Total of 578 players are available for the mega auctions as they will be sorted intro different groups based on their roles.

The auctioneer will call the name of a player to go under the hammer first after which the teams interested in buying that particular player will have to raise their team paddle to start the bidding. The bidding will continue until all the franchises back out and the player will be sold to the team with the highest bid.

However before selling the player to the team with the highest bid, if he is eligible for RTM, the auctioneer will enquire the team he played for in the previous season. If they are willing to use RTM for that cricketer, then he will be sold to the same franchise for the same amount.

In case, no team is interested in a particular player, then he remains unsold during the auction.

What about unsold players?

Unsold players are those who have not attracted any bid from any of the eight franchises during the whole event. However, they have one final chance to play in the league at the end of the auction. The auctioneer will request to provide the list of unsold players they would want to think upon once again in order to make up their final squad.

The listed names will once again go under the hammer albeit at half their base price. The bidding war will then continue for them with all the eight teams willing to provide the final touches to their overall bunch of players.

Players to watch out for:

There are few players who will surprise everyone during the mega auctions this weekend. Currently, there is a lot of cricketing action going on and the team owners are keenly keeping their eyes wide open. The tournaments like Big Bash League (BBL), ICC U19 Cricket World Cup and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy are in progress and the players proving their mettle are surely going to earn big bucks.

Here we have listed some of the key players from each of these tournaments:

Big Bash League: D’Arcy Short, Jofra Archer, Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Fawad Ahmed

Syed Mushtaq Ali T20: Deepak Chahar, V Athisayaraj Davidson, Dhruv Shorey, Shreevats Goswami, Kulwant Khejroliya

U19 World Cup: Prithvi Shaw, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi, Shubman Gill, Anukul Sudhakar Roy

India discards in the auction

The fans will have an eye on their favourite players who have not been playing for the national side for a long time. They would want them to be picked by any of the eight teams to prove their mettle and get back into the contention. Here are some of the players who are discarded from the Indian team are in the auction.

Gautam Gambhir: The left-hander is one among the marquee list and has set his base price at Rs. 2 Crore. He was not retained by Kolkata Knight Riders despite leading them to the coveted title twice during his captaincy tenure. It remains to be seen if the franchise use Right to Match card for him.

Yuvraj Singh: The stakes of Yuvraj have gone low in the recent times having lost his place in the national side. The left-hander though still remains a key T20 player for any side. He last played for Sunrisers Hyderabad who didn’t retain him. But surely few teams would be looking for him in the auction.

Yusuf Pathan: Yusuf Pathan is the most dangerous batsman in the shortest format of the game. Understandably, he has also kept his base price at Rs. 75 lakhs and surely the player of his stature will not go unsold. The teams look for a swashbuckling player like him and also KKR would think of using RTM for him.

Stuart Binny: Stuart Binny is having a decent domestic season and he has lived up to his reputation in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament. He played for Royal Challengers Bangalore last season and his all-round skills will make him play for some team as he could prove to be a smart buy for the franchises. He has been in good form and had a brilliant stint in Karnataka Premier League as well.

Manoj Tiwary: A decent middle-order batsman who can finish the game in style. He featured for Rising Pune Supergiant last year who were the runners-up of the tournament. He is leading Bengal in the domestic T20 competition currently and has kept his base price at Rs. 50 lakhs.

To get latest news & live updates on IPL player auction 2018, stay tune to www.crictracker.com