IPL players’ draft on December 15 in Mumbai

“The draft pick is to be held at the BKC clubhouse starting at 12:15 pm on the 15th,” a top BCCI source told PTI.

Sanjiv Goenka’s New Rising group is the owner of Pune franchise, while Delhi-based Intex group owns the Rajkot franchise. Both groups won the bid for the franchises through a reverse-bidding process on December 8 in Delhi. Sanjiv Goenka group will pay BCCI Rs.16 Crore for two seasons while, Intex Technologies will pay Rs. 10 Crore.

Pune will have the first right to pick among the top players as they were the lowest bidders to buy the team for two years. The cricketers of the suspended Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) will be divided into capped and uncapped players and the top 10 players will be sold through the draft system. (Read: After cash-rich IPL, BCCI considers another T20 league)

Both teams will have minimum of Rs. 40 crore and a maximum of Rs. 66 crore to buy players. CSK’s MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Suresh Raina, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Brendon McCullum and RR’s Ajinkya Rahane, Steve Smith and Shane Watson would be the leading players in the draft.

As per the tender, 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, PTI reported.

The main player auction for the unpicked players will be held on February 6 in Bengaluru. Both Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) will be allowed back in the league in 2018, after serving their two-year suspension. IPL 2016 will start on April 9, with the final on May 29.