The auction is open to all 10 franchises, who can bid for any player they want in their team.
The player auction is among the most-watched events in an Indian Premier League cycle, drawing viewers from across the world, as the eight (now 10) franchises get involved in some heated bidding wars for players.
The next mega auction is scheduled to take place in Bengaluru on February 12 and 13 with the franchises looking to build a title-winning or challenging squad for the next three seasons. The addition of two new franchises — the Lucknow Super Giants and the team from Ahmedabad — will throw into the mix two unknown quantities that can turn the auction on its head.
Here, we look at every aspect of the IPL player auction.
IPL PLAYER AUCTION DATE
This year, the mega auction will be held over two days on February 12 and 13.
WHERE TO WATCH IPL 2022 MEGA AUCTION?
Star Sports Network, the IPL’s official broadcaster, will telecast the event. Fans can also tune in on Disney+ Hotstar for a live streaming.
HOW MANY PLAYERS REGISTERED FOR THE AUCTION?
A massive 1,214 players, including 896 Indians and 318 foreigners, had signed up for the auction.
HOW MANY PLAYERS WILL BE AUCTIONED?
Eventually, the IPL organisers whittled the list of players to 590, who will go under the hammer in Bengaluru. Of these, 220 are foreigners and 370 are Indians.
HIGHEST BASE PRICE
The highest base price for a player in the IPL is Rs 2 crore.
PLAYERS IN HIGHEST BASE PRICE BRACKET
There are 17 Indians in the list of players with a Rs 2-crore base price. These are Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Deepak Chahar, Shreyas Iyer, Dinesh Karthik, Ishan Kishan, Bhuvneshawar Kumar, Krunal Pandya, Devdutt Padikkal, Harshal Patel, Suresh Raina, Mohammed Shami, Ambati Rayudu, Robin Uthappa, Shardul Thakur, and Umesh Yadav.
There are also 22 foreigners in the list. They include Mujeeb Zadran, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Ashton Agar, David Warner, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Steve Smith, Mitchell Marsh, Matthew Wade, Adam Zampa, Mustafizur Rahman, Shakib al-Hasan, Saqib Mahmood, Sam Billings, Chris Jordan, Craig Overton, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, David Willey, James Vince, Trent Boult, Mark Wood, Quinton de Kock, Lockie Ferguson, Evin Lewis, Marchant de Lange, Faf Du Plessis, Imran Tahir, Kagiso Rabada, Dwayne Bravo, and Fabian Allen.
WHAT ARE THE OTHER BASE PRICE CATEGORIES?
Below the Rs 2-crore base price level, there are several levels, including Rs 1.5 crore and Rs 1 crore. Twenty players have been listed in the Rs 1.5-crore level, while 34 players make up the Rs 1-crore level.
PLAYER RETENTION RULES
According to IPL rules, a team can retain a maximum of four players. However, teams are not allowed to retain more than three Indian players or two overseas players. Retention of uncapped players is also capped at two.
For teams retaining four players, the IPL deducts Rs 42 crore from their total Rs 90-crore purse. The first-choice player costs Rs 16 crore, the second choice Rs 12 crore, the third Rs 8 crore, and the fourth Rs 6 crore.
For teams retaining three players, the IPL deducts Rs 33 crore — Rs 15 crore for the first choice, Rs 11 crore for the second choice, and Rs 7 crore for the third choice.
Some teams can choose to pay more for their retained players. The Lucknow Super Giants acquired India international KL Rahul for a whopping Rs 17 crore.
PLAYERS SIGNED BY LUCKNOW SUPER GIANTS AND AHMEDABAD IPL TEAM
The IPL’s two new teams, the Lucknow Super Giants and the yet-to-be-named Ahmedabad franchise, signed three players prior to the auction. The Sanjeev Goenka-owned Lucknow team signed KL Rahul, Marcus Stoinis, and Ravi Bishnoi, while India internationals Hardik Pandya and Shubman Gill and Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan have joined Team Ahmedabad.
HOW MANY PLAYERS CAN FRANCHISES BUY?
The roster size of each franchise is capped at 25 players, including eight overseas cricketers.
CAPPED AND UNCAPPED PLAYERS
Of the 590 players going up for auction, 228 are capped at international, while 355 are uncapped. There are also seven players from Associate Nations.
IPL AUCTION RULES
For a multi-billion-dollar league, the IPL has very strict rules for the auction it conducts.
IPL PLAYER AUCTION
The IPL auction decides which player plays for a team. The auction is open to all the 10 franchises, who can bid for any player they want in their team. Franchises arrive with several strategies and usually have a list of players they wish to buy as well as backup options.
SEGREGATION OF PLAYERS
The IPL segregates the players by capped and uncapped Indian players and overseas players. They are further subdivided based on their speciality — batter, bowler (spinner/pacer), all-rounder, etc.
HOW DOES IPL PLAYER AUCTION WORK?
Like in any other open auction, the auctioneer announces the name of the cricketer, his specialty, country, and base price. The franchises then bid for the player, starting with the base price.
Once a bid that cannot be bettered is reached, the auctioneer ends the bidding at the last price. This usually happens after calling out thrice to notify the franchises that the bidding would end if no one else upped the bid. The team with the winning bid gets to include him in their roster.
BASE PRICE
The base price is the minimum bid that the franchises have to make for a player. The price is determined by the player before the auction and submitted to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), alongside a no-objection certificate from his parent board clearing him to take part in the IPL. High-profile Indian and overseas capped players usually set higher base prices because they know that they can attract big bids. Players also need to take into account their past performances, popularity, social media following, among others before fixing the base price.
UNSOLD PLAYERS
A player remains unsold if no one bids for him at the auction.
CAN UNSOLD PLAYERS BE AUCTIONED LATER?
Unsold players can be brought back for auction again if enough teams show interest.
CAN FRANCHISES BUY UNSOLD PLAYERS LATER?
If a player is injured or otherwise unavailable, a franchise can replace him with a player from the unsold list.
ACCELERATED BIDDING
The franchises submit to the BCCI a list of players they are interested in from among the unsold players. They are then brought back into the auction for another round of bidding. During this process, the bidding happens faster and the teams usually pick up a few players quickly, often for their base price.
CAN UNSOLD PLAYERS BE PART OF IPL TEAMS POST THE AUCTION?
Unsold players can also be signed as replacements for unavailable or injured players during the tournament.
HOW MANY PLAYERS GO UNDER THE HAMMER?
If it is a mini auction, fewer players go under the hammer. For a mega auction, like this one, which takes place at the end of player contracts, the number is larger. The final list of players is created depending on which players the teams show an interest in from the players who register for the auction.
TEAM PURSE AND HOW IT IS DECIDED
The purse is the total money a franchise can spend in building the team. This includes the players retained or signed before the auction and the players bought at the auction. The amount is the same for all teams. This time, the BCCI has capped the purse at Rs 90 crore per team for all 10 teams.
IPL PLAYER TRANSFER
The transfer window opens at the halfway stage of the tournament. For the upcoming season, this will be after all 10 teams have played 9 matches each.
DO THE PLAYERS GET THE FULL AMOUNT?
If a player is bought for Rs 5 crore on a three-year contract, he is entitled to Rs 5 crore each year of the contract. A player can also ask to be released in between the contract. If a player is available for the full season, the franchises will have to pay the full amount regardless of the number of matches he plays. If a player pulls out due to injury before a season, the franchise doesn’t pay the player. If the player is available for a fixed number of matches, he is paid on a pro-rata basis, usually with a 10% retainer. If a team releases a player before his contract is up, they pay for the full term of the contract. If a player is injured during the tournament, the franchises have to cover the medical expense.
RIGHT TO MATCH CARD
An option for franchises to bring back a player they could not retain into the team. Once the highest amount is bid, the franchise that previously contracted the player is given the option to match the bid. If they use their right to match card, they get the player. If not, the team with the highest bid signs the player.
The 2022 IPL auction, however, will not have the option to provide a level playing field for the two new teams.
BIDDING WAR
A competitive bidding process where two or more franchises are locked in a battle to secure the services of the same player. This usually happens when the player is on the first-choice pick list of multiple franchises. The teams usually draw up plans for players they want to target before the auction.
HOW MUCH FRANCHISES SPEND ON STAR PLAYERS
Most franchises spend 40% of their purse on the core team of five-six players. The rest of the purse is then spent to buy the remaining players, usually with lower base prices.
THE BIGGEST DEALS
The highest price tag in IPL history — Rs 17 crore — was bagged by two Indian players. The Royal Challengers Bangalore retained Virat Kohli ahead of the last mega auction for Rs 17 crore. However, the former India captain took a pay cut of ahead of the 2022 edition, being retained for Rs 15 crore. The Lucknow Super Giants signed KL Rahul, their captain, for Rs 17 crore.
The Delhi Capitals bought Yuvraj Singh in 2015 for Rs 16 crore — the highest price at an IPL auction, till the Rajasthan Royals bought all-rounder Chris Morris for Rs 16.25 crore in 2021. Morris had a base price of Rs 75 lakh.
In the 2020 auction, the Kolkata Knight Riders bought Pat Cummins for Rs 15.5 crore.
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