The Indian Premier League juggernaut is set to return for its 11th edition which begins from 4th of April. But before the showdown begins, the IPL auction is going to be the trailer for that which is set to commence on 27th and 28th January where almost all the players are going under the hammer of the auction. 18 top players have been retained by the franchises and they can build on their sides during the auction by bidding on the players.

IPL gets ready for the bidding war for its 11th edition

There will be tense moments during the auction, there will be a bidding war among the team owners for certain players. The Indian cricket board received as many as 1122 applicants who registered themselves to be the part of this massive cricketing event. With the help of the franchise, the BCCI cut down the players list to 578 whose fate will be decided on the auction day. The BCCI has handed over the list of all the 578 players which includes 360 Indian cricketers while 218 overseas players.

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After all the 8 teams agreed upon the fact that they should get an opportunity to retain the top performers of their sides, the retention program saw some crucial tactics by the all the team management. The two sides who were slapped a two-year ban were back in the IPL.

Retention as it happened

Chennai Super Kings, the two time IPL winning team retained their captain MS Dhoni, leading run-scorer in all the IPL, Suresh Raina and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja.

Often known as the side who liked to go with unknown faces, Rajasthan Royals went with just one retention as they put their weight on Australia skipper Steve Smith.

3-times IPL champions Mumbai Indians retained their captain Rohit Sharma, all-rounder Hardik Pandya and death bowler specialist Jasprit Bumrah.

Kolkata Knight Riders’ retention have made the fans guessing the logic behind not retaining their captain Gautam Gambhir. The management of KKR retained their two overseas players in the form of Sunil Narine and Andre Russell.

Royal Challengers Bangalore shown their support towards their star performers Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers as they retained them. Exclusion of destructive opener Chris Gayle would’ve surely made the other sides jump with happiness as they can get the Jamaican to their sides.

Kings XI Punjab have been pretty ordinary in last couple of IPL seasons. For the upcoming one, the management opted to retain just 1 player as they went with Axar Patel.

Delhi Daredevils went with the young brigades as they retained Mumbai player Shreyas Iyer and Delhi’s Rishabh Pant. South African all-rounder Chris Morris too was retained by the Delhi side.

Sunrisers Hyderabad retained their two opener and skipper David Warner who had won them the IPL in 2016. Star India bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar was their 2nd retention.

What is Right to Match (RTM)

 The fans were left bemused as they might see their favorite player playing for another side this IPL. However with the rule of RTM, the side can buy back their player for the highest bid If they wish to go for that player. So there are chances that the players who played for your favourite side return to the side.

Bidding war for star players

Likes of Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo, Glenn Maxwell, Chris Gayle, Gautam Gambhir, Rashid Khan, Ajinkya Rahane are some of the top names which their previous sides might buy back using the RTM rule.

Likes of Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav might get to see a lot of buyers fighting for them during the auction.

The old horses like Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh too can attract a number of bidders for them.

Australia star Chris Lynn, making his IPL debut Joe Root, Jofra Archer, the bowler making his name in the on-going Big Bash League, England star all-rounder Ben Stokes can fetch huge sum of money as well.

As number of star India and overseas players will be up for grabs during the auction. So hold your seats and hope that your side picks the best ones, the ones you want.

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