IPL Auction Today: Only 61 slots for 292 players, 40-45 cricketers expected to be sold; Maxwell's eyes on 8 teams

The auction for the 14th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will be held in Chennai from 3 pm today. For this, 292 players have been shortlisted. However, all 8 teams have only 61 players slots vacant. It is expected that only 40-45 of these players can be sold. All franchises will be eyeing Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell and New Zealand's Kyle Jameson.

14 big players (marquee players) will be bidding in the 2nd round of the auction. After this, batsmen, all-rounders, wicketkeepers, and bowlers will be bid. Out of all 292, only 10 players have been placed in the base prize slot of Rs 2 crore. After 13 rounds and 87 players, the auction will be held at a fast pace.

Players' base prize

Base prices of 20, 30, and 40 lakhs have now been fixed for uncapped players. At the same time, the capped players have been kept in 5 different base prices of 50 lakh, 75 lakh, 1 crore, 1.5 crore, and two crore. Capped players are those who have played in any one of the international formats of Test, ODI, T20 for their country.

Mark Wood With Rs 2 Crore Base Prize Withdrawn

Shortly before the auction, England fast bowler Mark Wood withdrew his name. His base price for the auction was Rs 2 crore. According to cricket website ESPN, Wood decided to spend time with the family. At the moment, he will play the last 2 Tests against India. He was rested in the first two Tests of the series. After that, he will also play ODI and T20 series against India.

Wood was bought by Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in 2018. CSK, then captained by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, won the title for the third time. Wood played the same match that season, conceding 49 runs without taking a wicket. Wood has not played the IPL since then.

How many players will be maximum and minimum in a team?

All franchises can have a maximum of 25 and a minimum of 18 players in their team. There can be as many as 8 foreign players in any team. In the current situation, Royal Challengers Bangalore has the least 14 players and Sunrisers Hyderabad has the maximum of 22 players. That is, RCB will have to buy at least 4 players in the auction. At the same time, SRH can buy as many as 3 players.

Highest rupees in Punjab purse to buy player

In this season of IPL, the franchise's salary purse (budget) is 85 crore as the previous season. That is, due to Corona, there has been no increase in salary budget this time, whereas in 2019 this budget was 80 crores and in 2018 it was 66 crores. This time Punjab has the highest amount of Rs 53.20 crore to buy players. The minimum expenditure of the team under the rules should be 60 crores i.e. 75% of the salary cap value.

Will the Right to Match Card (RTM Card) be used?

Right to match card is for mega auction only. In such a situation, it will not be used in this mini-auction. Through the Right to Match card, franchisees can get their old player back in the auction. For this, they have to pay a price equal to the highest bid placed on the player in the auction. For example, Rajasthan Royals have not retained Steve Smith this season. If a franchise makes the biggest bid on them during the auction, Rajasthan can use the RTM card to bring them into their team. Franchisees can retain up to 5 players through this (RTM card).

5 England players in the 2 crore base price slot

Players with a base price of Rs 2 crore include Harbhajan Singh and Kedar Jadhav from India. Australian players Glenn Maxwell and Steve Smith are also on this list. England's top 5 players Moin Ali, Sam Billings, Liam Plunkett, Jason Roy, and Mark Wood got the list. However, Wood withdrew the name. One name also belongs to Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan.

In addition to Maxwell and Shakib this time, Kyle Jameson may also get a big bid in the auction. In the uncapped Indian players, franchisees can also lodge money on Kerala's Mohammad Azharuddin and Sachin Tendulkar's son Arjun. These 5 players can surprise everyone.

Mohammad Azharuddin

Indian young wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Azharuddin recently scored a century on 37 balls in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament. This tournament was the second-fastest century in history. The Kerala batsman scored 214 runs in 5 matches at a strike rate of 195. 158 runs taken from the boundary. Raised a century. He has scored 451 runs in 24 T20s at an average of 23. The strike rate was 142.

Arjun Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar's son and left-arm pacer Arjun took 3 wickets while playing for MIG Cricket Club. Also, this all-rounder scored an unbeaten 77 off 31 balls. His team won by 194 runs. He played 2 T20s for Mumbai in the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament, taking 2 wickets.