Kolkata ,December 14 : Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina and Ravichandran Ashwin along with Steve Smith , Dwayne Bravo , Shane Watson , Brendon McCullum and James Faulkner will be the most sought after cricketer for the two new Indian Premier League (IPL) teams in the draft to be held in Mumbai on Tuesday.
Sanjiv Goenka’s New Rising won the bid for the Pune franchise while Intex won the bid for Rajkot after a reverse bidding process held in Delhi on December 8 to replace suspended teams Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) for the next two editions to be held in 2016 and 2017.
However, both the CSK and RR will be allowed back in the league after serving out their suspension.
The cricketers from the two suspended franchises will be divided into two groups of capped and uncapped and the top names will be sold through the draft system. The two new teams will have a minimum of Rs.40 crore and a maximum of Rs.66 crore to buy players.
Pune will be given the choice to pick the players first because they were the lowest bidders (negative bids) to buy the new team for two years in the draft to be held at the Mumbai Cricket Association’s recreation centre at the Bandra Kurla Complex.
The two new franchises will have the option to pick a maximum of five players from the draft. Those players who remain unsold will be put up for being chosen at the players’ auction to be held in next February . According to BCCI sources ,the trading window (for buying players left free by other franchises) also commences on December 15 and ends on December 31 .
It would be interesting to see whether India’s T20 and World Cup winning skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni still commands the sort of appeal that he generated not so long ago . Dhoni, who led the Super Kings for eight seasons, is expected to be in the first list . It would also be interesting to note whether Rajkot guns for its home player Jadeja whose stocks have risen after he made his comeback into the Indian squad in the Test series against South Africa and shone with both ball and bat.
As per the tender for the two new teams, the first capped player would be paid 12.5 crore while the remaining four capped players are to get Rs.9.5 crore, Rs.7.5 crore, Rs.5.5 crore, and Rs.4 crore respectively. Uncapped players can be picked for a stipulated fee of Rs.4 crore.
The ninth edition of the IPL is scheduled from April 9 to May 29, 2016.