The two new IPL franchises are set to be offered pre-auction selection through a player draft ahead of IPL 2022. The objective is to make it a level-playing field with the existing eight franchises, who are likely to be allowed to retain up to four players before the mega auction scheduled for January 2022.
The Hindu understands that after the RPSG Group (Lucknow) and CVC Capital (Ahmedabad) joined the IPL bandwagon on Monday, the representatives of the teams were told that they can pick three players each between the deadline for the player retention and the auction.
It has been learnt that both the new franchises have asked the BCCI that they be allowed to pick the same number of players (4) as the other franchises are allowed to retain. It will be interesting to see if the IPL authorities accept the demand of the new team owners to pick four players ahead of the auction.
- After the retained players’ list is finalised, the new franchises will get first choice from the rest of the pool ahead of the auction
The players for the draft for the two teams will obviously be done once the existing eight teams finalise their retention. Like in 2017, the BCCI is set to offer each of the eight teams a maximum of four players, including two overseas cricketers, from the 2021 roster.
The IPL is set to increase the purse for each squad from ₹85 crore to ₹95 crore for IPL 2022. The retained players as well as the draft picks’ fees will be deducted from the available auction purse.
The formal communication detailing the deadline for retentions, player fee for each retention and the auction purse, along with the tentative auction date, is likely to be sent to the franchises the coming week.
The retention and pre-auction selection will be interesting since a majority of franchises will be on the look-out for new captains. At the moment, only Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals are not looking for a new skipper while Chennai Super Kings will be hoping that M.S. Dhoni will make himself available as a player for yet another edition.
