You could forgive the Heat and Strikers cricket teams for appearing somewhat distracted during tomorrow’s BBL clash in Brisbane.
That’s because some of them could become instant millionaires when the Indian Premier League (IPL) Player Auction kick’s off on Friday.
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The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has not budged on the date despite franchises requesting for it to be moved, due to Christmas festivities. However, as a compromise, the Indian board has allowed video conferencing, meaning foreign staff could join in from their respective homes.
The IPL has always allowed phone calls during the bidding process, but this will be the first time video conferencing is allowed during the auction.
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This edition of the IPL Player Auction will see a total of 405 cricketers from India and abroad go under the hammer during a one-day mini-auction in Kochi.
This auction is a prelude to the 16th season of the IPL with some of the biggest stars of world cricket set to light up the tournament in 2023.
Among the 405 players who have registered for the auction, 119 are capped players, 282 are uncapped players, while four belong to Associate Nations.
Since this is a mini-auction, most teams have a set of players, who will form their core, which means every team just needs to plug a few holes in their squads. Only 87 spots are up for grabs, out of which 30 are for overseas players.
As they are most years, Indian cricket stars are set to be the most sought after players led by Mayank Agarwal, Ajinkya Rahane, Ishant Sharma, Manish Pandey, Mandeep Singh, Sandeep Sharma, Mohit Sharma, Karun Nair, Jaydev Unadkat, Shivam Mavi, Murugan Ashwin.
Following a number of releases and retirements/withdrawals 10 IPL franchisees – Chennai Super Kings, Delhi Capitals, Kolkata Knight Riders, Lucknow Super Giants, Mumbai Indians, Punjab Kings, Rajasthan Royals, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Team Ahmedabad – will also be in the hunt for the best overseas talent.
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Australian stars Cameron Green, Travis Head, Chris Lynn, and Adam Zampa lead a blockbuster list of international players at the auction which also includes Kane Williamson, Sam Curran, Ben Stokes, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Rilee Rossouw, Jason Holder, Nicholas Pooran, and Shakib Al Hasan.
INR 2 crore is the highest reserve price and as many as 19 players have chosen to place themselves in this bracket.
There are 11 players in the auction list with a reserve price of INR 1.5 crore while 20 players are in the list of cricketers with a reserve price of INR 1 crore.
At last season’s auction, franchises spent a total of INR 551.7 crore at the two-day IPL mega auction, which equates to approximately $100 million AUD.
Unlike last season’s mega-event, each squad has retained the majority of their players this year. That means there are less slots for those that will go into the auction to fill. Each franchise must spend a minimum of three quarters of their total purse which is set at 95 crores – five more than last year.
Read on for everything you need to know about the 2023 IPL Auction.
WHEN IS IT?
The IPL 2023 Auction will be held in Kochi on December 23, 2022, with the auction set to commence at 8pm (AEDT).
The one-day affair will not be broadcast on Fox Cricket but you can follow all the action in our Fox Sports live blog.
HOW MANY PLAYERS ARE GOING UNDER THE HAMMER?
A total of 405 cricketers will be auctioned, with 273 Indians and 132 are overseas players up for grabs among the 10 IPL franchises.
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HOW DOES IT WORK?
How many players can a team buy?
All 10 IPL teams can select a maximum of 25 cricketers in the IPL team. A side needs to have at least 18 cricketers in their side.
Who are the retained players?
In total, 163 players were kept on including 50 overseas, with Delhi Capitals retaining the most with 20, whilst Sunrisers Hyderabad have the potential to double their squad in size having kept just 12 players.
Last year’s winners Gujarat Titans kept on 18 of their players and have seven slots left including spaces for three more overseas. A full list of those players retained for each team can be found here.
Meanwhile, the biggest snub from the retention lists was that of New Zealand’s Kane Williamson – who Sunrisers Hyderabad dropped from his $2.5m deal – whilst IPL legends Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard have both retired from the competition and will no longer be representing the Chennai Super Kings or Mumbai Indians respectively.
Which Aussies were retained?
A total of seven Australians were let go by their Indian Premier League franchises last month with Aaron Finch the biggest omission. Pat Cummins also wasn’t retained by KKR after the bowler decided to not play in the T20 competition next year as he takes on Australia’s Test and ODI captaincy.
Other Australians not retained were Sean Abbott (Sunrisers Hyderabad), Daniel Sams (Mumbai Indians), Riley Meredith (Mumbai Indians), Andrew Tye (Lucknow Super Giants) and Nathan Coulter-Nile (Rajasthan Royals).
As things stand, there are eight confirmed Australians for next year’s competition with more expected to follow at the auction. The Australians are Josh Hazlewood (Royal Challengers Bangalore), Glenn Maxwell (Royal Challengers Bangalore), David Warner (Delhi Capitals), Mitch Marsh (Delhi Capitals), Tim David (Mumbai Indians), Jason Behrendorff (Mumbai Indians), Matthew Wade (Gujurat Titans), Marcus Stoinis (Lucknow Super Giants) and Nathan Ellis (Punjab Kings).
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How do the players go up for auction?
Initially, a total of 369 players were shortlisted by 10 teams from the initial list of 991 players. 36 additional players were requested by teams, which are added into the final list which makes a total of 405 players which will be presented at the 2023 IPL Auction.
The full list is divided on the basis of the players’ speciality: batsman, bowler, all-rounder, wicketkeeper, as well as their international experience – capped or uncapped.
Based on their base price and speciality, players are added to different sets (43) in all, with the auctioneer (Hugh Edmeades) going through the list of player names and asking teams to pick.
There are six big name batters who will be auctioned first – headlined by Indian opener Mayank Agarwal, England young gun Harry Brook, former England Test captain Joe Root, and current Kiwi T20 captain Kane Williamson – before things really explode with the marquee all-rounders set up next, which includes seven international players featuring English 2022 T20 World Cup winning pair Sam Curran (who was named player of the tournament) and Ben Stokes as well as Australian rising star Cam Green.
There will also be an accelerated process for players who have gone unsold in the first rounds, but have been requested by at least one of the franchises to be re-entered towards the end of the auction.
What are the base prices of players?
Each player could choose a base price of up to INR 2 crore for the IPL auction.
The other price brackets are INR 1.5 crore, INR 1 crore, INR 75 lakhs, INR 50 lakhs, INR 40 lakhs, INR 30 lakhs and INR 20 lakhs.
Nineteen players have kept themselves in the highest base price of INR 2 crore, including international trio Kane Williamson, Ben Stokes, and Sam Curran.
Is there a Right to Match (RTM) card available?
No. The RTM allowed a team to buy back a player that they had released at the highest bidding price that he received in the auction.
However, the RTM card was removed ahead of the 2022 edition of the IPL Player Auction and the 2023 edition will again not have the RTM card.
EXCHANGE RATE EXPLAINED
1 crore = 10 million rupees. 10 million rupees = $181,669 AUD
1 lakh = 100,000 rupees. 100,000 rupees = $1,816 AUD
WHO ARE THE MOST EXPENSIVE?
This is a question with multiple answers but no one choice is a certainty. It all comes down to the core principle of economics theory, the relationship between supply and demand.
While some of the players with the highest base price might find that there isn’t much demand amongst the IPL franchises for them at that price (i.e. Steve Smith in the 2022 IPL auction who went unsold thanks to his A$377,000 reserve), others with a lower base price may find a high level of demand in the market for their services which could in turn result in a bidding war (i.e. Tim David in the 2022 IPL auction who was the most expensive Aussie cricketer earning a whopping A$1.53m contract despite having only a A$75,000 reserve).
The 2023 is the 11th mini auction in IPL’s history, with the last one being in 2021, but there were only eight teams that season. Four players broke the INR 10-crore mark in the 2021 edition.
This time, with 10 teams in the league, there is likely to be more players breaching the 10-crore mark if the 2022 mega auction earlier this year is any indication. A record 11 players broke the INR 10-crore mark in the first mega auction since the league expanded to 10 teams.
Some names to watch during the auction who have been earmarked to go big
Sam Curran (Eng)
Set 2 – Marquee Allrounders
Base Price: INR 2 crore
Role: Fast bowling all-rounder
Ben Stokes (Eng)
Set 2 – Marquee Allrounders
Base Price: INR 2 crore
Role: Batting all-rounder
Nicholas Pooran (WIn)
Set 3 – Wicketkeepers
Base Price: INR 2 crore
Role: Wicketkeeper-batter
Harry Brook (Eng)
Set 1 – Batters
Base price: INR 1.5 crore
Role: Middle order batter / finisher
Mayank Agarwal (Ind)
Set 1 – Batters
Base Price: INR 1 crore
Role: Opening batter
Cameron Green (Aus)
Set 2 – Marquee Allrounders
Base Price: INR 2 crore
Role: Batting all-rounder
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WHICH AUSTRALIANS ARE IN IT?
Australians in the 2022 IPL auction
Base price of 200 lakh (approx. A$362,650)
Cam Green, Travis Head, Chris Lynn
Base price of 150 lakh (approx. A$271,885)
Jhye Richardson, Adam Zampa, Riley Meredith, Sean Abbott, Nathan Coulter-Nile
Base price of 100 lakh (approx. A$181,372)
Andrew Tye, Moises Henriques
Base price of 75 lakh (approx. A$135,957)
Daniel Sams, Josh Philippe, D’Arcy Short
Base price of 50 lakh (approx. A$90,697)
Ben McDermott, Ben Dwarshuis, Billy Stanlake
Base price of 30 lakh (approx. A$54,418)
Lance Morris
Base price of 20 lakh (approx. A$36,249)
Hayden Kerr, Jack Prestwidge, Peter Hatzoglou, Nathan McAndrew
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WHAT ARE THE REMAINING PURSES AND OVERSEAS AVAILABILITIES?
Franchise, Salary Cap left for the 2023 Player Auction Rs. rounded to the nearest Crore (A$ rounded to the nearest $100k), No. of open player slots, No. of open overseas player slots
Mumbai Indians 20.5 (3.72m), 9, 3
Chennai Super Kings 21 (3.81m), 7, 2
Delhi Capitals 19.5 (3.53m), 5, 2
Gujarat Titans 19 (3.49m), 7, 3
Kolkata Knight Riders 7 (1.28m), 11, 3
Lucknow Super Giants 23.5 (4.23m), 10, 4
Punjab Kings 32 (5.84m), 9, 3
Royal Challengers Bangalore 9 (1.59m), 7, 2
Rajasthan Royals 13 (2.39m), 9, 4
Sunrisers Hyderabad 42 (7.66m), 13, 4
