The 2024 IPL Mega Auction will be hosted by Jeddah on November 24 and 25 (Photo by IPL)
The 2024 IPL (Indian Premier League) mega auction is set to take place in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah on the 24th and 25th of November and will seal the fate of 204 players in two hectic days of pulsating non-stop action! It will just be the second year when the IPL auction is hosted overseas – the mini-auction was held in Dubai in December last year.
RG brings you an overall preview of the tournament.
What is a Mega Auction?
A mega auction is a grand IPL auction which is usually held every three years in which franchises get a chance to undergo a major overhaul in their squads and build their teams from (almost) scratch. Franchises are allowed to retain a few key players but the rest of the squad needs to be built at the auction.
There have previously been four mega auctions – in 2011, 2014, 2018 and 2022 – all in Bengaluru. The mega auction this year will be held at the Abady Al Johar Arena (also known as Benchmark Arena) in Jeddah.
The 2022 mega auction saw two new franchises being added to the IPL – the Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants.
How many players will be picked at the auction?
Each team has to build a squad of minimum 18 players and maximum 25 players so a total of 250 players need to be selected for the 10 franchises. 46 players have already been retained by the various franchises which means a total of 204 slots need to be filled. The long list of players who have registered for the auction is 1574. 1165 of these are Indian players and 409 are from overseas. This list is expected to be pruned by the BCCI in the coming days after consulting the franchises.
The list is further divided as:
Capped Indian – 48 players
Capped International – 272 players
Associate – 30 players
Uncapped Indians who were part of previous IPL seasons – 152 players
Uncapped Internationals who were part of previous IPL seasons – 3 players
Uncapped Indians – 965 players
Uncapped Internationals – 104 players
How many players have already been retained by each franchise?
Each franchise was allowed to retain a maximum of 6 players ahead of the mega auction in Jeddah. The franchise can also retain a player by using the RTM (Right To Match) card at the end of the auction. A maximum of five of these players could be capped and a maximum of two could be uncapped.
List of retained players
Mumbai Indians
Players retained: 5
Jasprit Bumrah (INR 18 crore), Suryakumar Yadav (INR 16.35 crore), Hardik Pandya (INR 16.35 crore), Rohit Sharma (INR 16.30 crore), Tilak Varma (INR 8 crore)
Right-to-match (RTM) options at auction: 1
Players eligible for RTM: One uncapped player
Sunrisers Hyderabad
Players retained: 5
Heinrich Klaasen (INR 23 crore), Pat Cummins (INR 18 crore), Abhishek Sharma (INR 14 crore), Travis Head (INR 14 crore), Nitish Kumar Reddy (INR 6 crore)
Right-to-match (RTM) options at auction: 1
Players eligible for RTM: One uncapped player
Chennai Super Kings
Players retained: 5
Ruturaj Gaikwad (INR 18 crore), Ravindra Jadeja (INR 18 crore), Matheesha Pathirana (INR 13 crore), Shivam Dube (INR 12 crore), MS Dhoni (INR 4 crore)
Right-to-match (RTM) options at auction: 1
Players eligible for RTM: One capped or uncapped player
Royal Challengers Bengaluru
Players retained: 3
Virat Kohli (INR 21 crore), Rajat Patidar (INR 11 crore), Yash Dayal (INR 5 crore)
Right-to-match (RTM) options at auction: 3
Players eligible for RTM: One uncapped player and two capped players, or three capped players
Delhi Capitals
Players retained: 4
Axar Patel (INR 16.50 crore), Kuldeep Yadav (INR 13.25 crore), Tristan Stubbs (INR 10 crore), Abishek Porel (INR 4 crore)
Right-to-match (RTM) options at auction: 2
Players eligible for RTM: One uncapped player and one capped player, or two capped players
Kolkata Knight Riders
Players retained: 6
Rinku Singh (INR 13 crore), Varun Chakravarthy (INR 12 crore), Sunil Narine (INR 12 crore), Andre Russell (INR 12 crore), Harshit Rana (INR 4 crore), Ramandeep Singh (INR 4 crore)
Right-to-match (RTM) options at auction: None
Players eligible for RTM: None
Rajasthan Royals
Players retained: 6
Sanju Samson (INR 18 crore), Yashasvi Jaiswal (INR 18 crore), Riyan Parag (INR 14 crore), Dhruv Jurel (INR 14 crore), Shimron Hetmyer (INR 11 crore), Sandeep Sharma (INR 4 crore)
Right-to-match (RTM) options at auction: None
Players eligible for RTM: None
Gujarat Titans
Players retained: 5
Rashid Khan (INR 18 crore), Shubman Gill (INR 16.50 crore), Sai Sudharsan (INR 8.50 crore), Rahul Tewatia (INR 4 crore), Shahrukh Khan (INR 4 crore)
Right-to-match (RTM) options at auction: One
Players eligible for RTM: One capped player
Lucknow Super Giants
Players retained: 5
Nicholas Pooran (INR 21 crore), Ravi Bishnoi (INR 11 crore) Mayank Yadav (INR 11 crore), Mohsin Khan (INR 4 crore), Ayush Badoni (INR 4 crore)
Right-to-match (RTM) options at auction: 1
Players eligible for RTM: One capped player
Punjab Kings
Players retained: 2
Shashank Singh (INR 5.5 crore), Prabhsimran Singh (INR 4 crore)
Right-to-match (RTM) options at auction: 4
Players eligible for RTM: Four capped players
What is this Right To Match (RTM) card?
The RTM option helps a franchise retain its core players/player who might have been bought by another franchise during the normal bidding process at the mega auction.
Here is how it works:
If a player has been bought by another franchise during the mega auction, the franchise to which he belonged in IPL 2024 can match the bid at the end of the auction. The franchise to which the player was sold at this year’s mega auction then gets a chance to increase their bid to whatever amount they want. The previous franchise then gets the option to buy back the player by matching the increased bid.
How many players can each franchise buy at the auction?
CSK: 20 (7 overseas)
RCB: 22 (8 overseas)
SRH: 20 (5 overseas)
MI: 20 (8 overseas)
DC: 21 (7 overseas)
RR: 19 (7 overseas)
PBKS: 23 (8 overseas)
KKR: 19 (6 overseas)
GT: 20 (7 overseas)
LSG: 20 (7 overseas)
What is the purse available to each team?
Each team has a budget of INR 120 crore for the mega auction but a part of it has already been spent in player retentions ahead of the event in Jeddah. Thus, here is a team-wise breakdown of the purse remaining:
Punjab Kings – INR 110.5 crore
Royal Challengers Bengaluru – INR 83 crore
Delhi Capitals – INR 73 crore
Gujarat Titans – INR 69 crore
Lucknow Super Giants – INR 69 crore
Chennai Super Kings – INR 55 crore
Kolkata Knight Riders – INR 51 crore
Mumbai Indians – INR 45 crore
Sunrisers Hyderabad – INR 45 crore
Rajasthan Royals – INR 41 crore
Who are the Marquee Players at the mega auction?
There will be two sets of marquee players at the auction consisting of 8-9 players each. These players will have a base price of INR 2 crore. A total of 23 Indian players have been listed with a base price of INR 2 crore. Some of the big names expected to make the marquee list include Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, R Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Mitchell Starc and Jos Buttler.
Nikhil Narain is a die-hard cricket romantic, published author, and has worked for some of the leading digital websites and broadcasters in India and overseas. An alumnus of the London School of Economics, Nikhil's forte is using data and numbers creatively to weave interesting stories and revolutionize the way cricket statistics are generated and analyzed.
