Ten-team IPL set for bidding war

The 15th edition of the Indian Premier League will have a new look as the tournament has added two new teams, Lucknow Super Giants and Gujarat Titans.

Due to the increase in teams, a new policy has been implied for retaining players. Teams were allowed to retain a maximum of four players from their team in the last edition. Among them, a maximum of three Indian players and a maximum of two overseas players could be retained.

Before the upcoming edition, there will be a mega auction which will take place on February 12 and 13, and 590 players will go under the hammer there.

In the previous editions, teams used the auction to plug the holes. But this time around, all 10 teams will have to build their teams from almost scratch.

Ahead of the auction, the teams have been given a fixed purse of 90 crore rupees. The franchises have spent from there to keep hold of their players from the last edition.

Defending Champions Chennai Super Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders, and Mumbai Indians have 48 crore rupees remaining in their purse after they retained four players each.

Royal Challengers Bangalore have 57 crore rupees left in their purse, whereas Sunrisers Hyderabad have even more left to spend as they have 68 crore rupees.

Delhi Capitals spent the most while retaining players and have the least among 10 teams to spend in the auction- 47.5 crore rupees.

Rajasthan Royals have 62 crore rupees left, whereas Punjab Kings have a massive 72 crore rupees to spend in the auction as they have retained only two players.

The two new teams, Lucknow and Gujarat, have already spent a big chunk of their purse as Lucknow have 58 crore rupees left, with Gujarat having 52.

Teams have mostly retained four players, while some have retained three, and Punjab opted to keep only two players. Both new teams have signed three players each.

This means each of the teams will have to use the remainder of their purse to scour the auction for the best deals as most of them don’t have much to spend, but a lot of players to buy.

But one thing is for sure, the 15th edition of the IPL will have a very different look, with players switching their shirts and teams going through massive overhauls.