With two new teams entering the IPL and almost entire squads dissolved, the 2022 IPL auction will be as 'mega' as things can get. The eight old and two new franchises will be looking to buy between 21 and 23 players each in the 12-13 February auction, with 1,214 players registering for the auction and only 217 spots up for grabs.
Two New Teams Picked Three Players Each
While this won't be the first time that 10 teams will play an IPL season, the 2022 IPL marks the start of a 10-team format on a long-term basis, and it sees the return of the RP Sanjiv Goenka Group that was part of the IPL for two seasons – in 2016 and 2017 – with their team, Rising Pune Super Giants.
MS Dhoni started as a skipper and then they handed the captaincy to Steve Smith? Does it bring back memories? Well, they now own the Lucknow franchise called…the Lucknow Super Giants, for which they have paid a bank-breaking Rs 7,000 crore.
The other new team is based in Ahmedabad, and was bought by CVC Capital for Rs 5,600 crore.
Now, while the eight old franchises were allowed to retain a maximum of four players each, it left the two new teams at a disadvantage, and they were thus allowed to pick three players from the pool of the released players.
Lucknow have brought on board KL Rahul for Rs 17 crore, making him the joint highest-paid player of all time, Marcus Stoinis for Rs 9.2 crore, and Ravi Bishnoi for Rs 4 crore.
Ahmedabad have Hardik Pandya and Rashid Khan, who they will pay Rs 15 crore each. There's also Shubman Gill, who will be paid Rs 8 crore a season.
So, that's a total of 33 players off the auction list. Also, Rs 338 crore was spent before the first player goes under the hammer.
Who Is on the Auction List?
According to the BCCI, 1,214 players have registered for the auction, of which 896 are Indians and 318 are overseas players. In terms of experience, 270 players are capped, 903 uncapped, and 41 are from Associate nations. All 1,214, however, will not go under the hammer with the full list being sent to the teams who will mark out the players they are likely to be interested in to help shortlist the names. A final list will be prepared closer to the auction date.
The other important list is one of the Rs 2 crore base price players. As many as 49 cricketers have slotted themselves in the highest base price bracket, and with teams looking to pretty much build squads from scratch, there is likely to be some big bidding wars on 12 February.
There is also no 'Right to Match' card at this auction.
As many as 32 overseas players are at the Rs 2 crore base price bracket with some of the big names being David Warner, Mitch Marsh, Steve Smith, Pat Cummins, Trent Boult, Quinton de Kock, Faf du Plessis, and Kagiso Rabada.
Among the 17 Indians are Shikhar Dhawan, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Deepak Chahar, Shreyas Iyer, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Dinesh Karthik, Mohammad Shami, Shardul Thakur, and Robin Uthappa.
Who Has Stayed Away?
Despite talks of this being the last of the 'mega' IPL auctions, some players have elected to stay away from the league this season, and instead, focus on international careers.
Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer, both Rajasthan Royals regulars, had missed the previous season and have now elected not to enter their names in the auction this time. Stokes made his comeback from an injury and a mental health break during The Ashes in Australia, while Jofra Archer is still in recovery. Chris Woakes, the third-ranked bowler in the ICC Men's ODI rankings, has also opted not to enter the auction. The big miss will, however, be Sam Curran.
Chennai Super Kings' star Curran was, in fact, expected to be retained by the franchise but he announced in a post that he had chosen instead to focus on his England career and would be playing County Cricket instead.
How Much Money Can Be Spent at the Auction?
A total of Rs 338 crore has already been spent by the 10 franchises in retaining/picking the 33 players so far, with Rs 90 crore being the maximum amount each of the teams is allowed to spend to fill up a squad sheet comprising a maximum of 25 players.
Chennai, Kolkata, and Mumbai retained four players each, which means, Rs 42 crore was cut from their Rs 90 crore kitty. They go into the auction with just Rs 48 crore each to buy about 21 players.
Delhi also retained four players, but they spent Rs 42.50 crore. This means they have the least available funds at the auction – Rs 47.50 crore.
RCB, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Rajasthan, and Hyderabad have all retained/picked three players each and have between Rs 50-70 crore, but it is Punjab who have the biggest purse available, having retained only two players, Mayank Agarwal and Arshdeep Singh, for a total of Rs 16 crore. With Rs 72 crore, they go into the auction looking to fill the most slots and rebuild a team that has been among the more unsuccessful ones in the league's history.
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