IPL draft: Dhoni to Pune, Raina to Rajkot

12/15/2015

India's limited-overs team captain MS Dhoni will don the colours of Pune for the next season of Indian Premier League (IPL) after the franchise picked the player in the draft on Tuesday in Mumbai. Dhoni’s teammate Suresh Raina was the first pick for Rajkot franchise in the draft.

Former Chennai Super Kings captain Dhoni was the first pick for Pune franchise owned by Sanjiv Goenka’s New Rising group.

.@msdhoni to play for Pune franchise. First to be picked in the vivo #IPLdraft
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) December 15, 2015

Dhoni’s CSK teammate Suresh Raina became the first pick for Rajkot franchise owned by Delhi-based Intex technologies.

.@ImRaina to play for Team Rajkot #IPLdraft
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) December 15, 2015

Excited to play for the beautiful vibrant city- Rajkot in @IPL. Looking forward to have new teammates and support from the people of Gujarat
— Suresh Raina (@ImRaina) December 15, 2015

Pune’s second pick was former Rajasthan Royals (RR) opener and Indian player Ajinkya Rahane.

Team Pune picks @ajinkyarahane88 as their second choice in the vivo #IPLdraft
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) December 15, 2015

Rajkot picked local lad and former CSK all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja as their second pick in the draft.

Team Rajkot picks @imjadeja as their second choice in the vivo #IPLdraft.
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) December 15, 2015

Pune picked Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin in the third round of the draft.

Off spinner @ashwinravi99 goes to Team Pune #IPLdraft
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) December 15, 2015

The first overseas player picked in the draft was Brendon McCullum, who went to Rajkot as the third pick.

Brendon McCullum first overseas player to be picked in the #IPLdraft. He will represent Team Rajkot.
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) December 15, 2015

Australian captain Steve Smith was the fourth pick for Pune.

Team Pune picks Steven Smith as their fourth choice in the vivo #IPLdraft
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) December 15, 2015

Rajkot's fourth pick was Australian all-rounder James Faulkner.

Team Rajkot picks all-rounder James Faulkner as their fourth choice in the vivo #IPLdraft
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) December 15, 2015

Pune's fifth and final pick was South African T20 captain Faf du Plessis.

Last pick for Team Pune is batsman Faf du Plessis in the vivo #IPLdraft
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) December 15, 2015

Rajkot picked West Indies all-rounnder Dwayne Bravo as their final pick.

Team Rajkot picks all-rounder Dwayne Bravo as their fifth and final choice in the vivo #IPLdraft
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) December 15, 2015

The five players picked by both teams are:-

Teams Pune's picks from the vivo #IPLdraft - MS Dhoni, Ajinkya Rahane, R Ashwin, Steve Smith, Faf du Plessis
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) December 15, 2015

Team Rajkot's picks from the vivo #IPLdraft - Suresh Raina, R Jadeja, Brendon McCullum, James Faulkner, Dwayne Bravo
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) December 15, 2015

Seven fromer Chennai Super King players and three former Rajasthan Royals players were picked in the draft.

MS Dhoni, R Ashwin, Faf du Plessis, Suresh Raina, Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Bravo were the picks from CSK, while Ajinkya Rahane, Steve Smith and James Faulkner were the picks from RR.

The unpicked players will go into an auction, which is to be held on February 6 in Bengaluru.

Both teams had a minimum of Rs. 40 crore and a maximum of Rs. 66 crore to buy players. 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. However, the players will be paid the same amount they have been receiving with the previous franchise.