How does the Indian Premier League auction work? What’s new in 2021? Here’s all you need to know about the IPL 2021 player auction.

The 2021 IPL will be the first edition to be held within six months of the previous season, with the Covid-19 pandemic having forced the postponement of IPL 2020. The tournament is expected to be held in India this year, with reports that BCCI is pushing for the players to be vaccinated before the tournament is held in its usual slot of April-May 2021.

When is the IPL 2021 auction?

The auction for the 2021 IPL, the 14th edition of the T20 competition, will be held on February 18, 2021, in Chennai. The auction will begin at 3.00pm IST.

Where to watch IPL 2021 auction?

In India, the 2021 IPL auction will be broadcasted on the Star Sports network. You can find complete details of the broadcast here.

Follow live updates from the IPL 2021 Auction here.

How does the IPL auction work?

An initial list of players who register for the auction is pruned down to a shortlist, based on lists submitted by each franchise. For IPL 2020 auction, a total of 997 players had registered, but only 332 cricketers were shortlisted for the auction. All in all, a total of 232 players will go through the process for the 61 slots.

The IPL 2021 auction will feature a list of players who will go under the hammer to be acquired by one of the eight teams in the competition. The team who bids the highest for the player, using funds from their remaining purse (budget) that they carried into the auction, will have him in their team. The auction list will contain players who register after being let go by their franchise ahead of the process, and other players who make fresh registration ahead of the event.

Each player has a certain base price, which is the minimum amount for which they can be acquired. Overseas players set their own base price, while the base price of the Indian players is said to be set in discussion with the BCCI.

Bidding starts at the base price for each player after one team expresses interest in acquiring their services. If another team (or multiple teams) is interested in the same player, the teams keep making incremental bids until the other teams pull out.

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What’s new in the IPL 2021 auction?

The IPL 2021 auction is set to be the first auction that will not have any additional budget for the teams. Hence, there were plenty of high-profile player releases ahead of the auction, with teams freeing up their budget to have a larger purse to operate with.

The trade window, where teams can move and swap players, will be open until February 4.

Here is the list of players retained and released by each team.

What is the deadline for player registration?

Players who are not part of any franchise and wish to register for the auction will have to fill the player auction agreement and apply online by 5pm IST on February 4. Off-line registrations can be sent by February 12.

What’s the budget available for each team?

Each team has a different budget to operate with in the auction, based on their remaining amount after retaining players. Here’s the budget remaining for each IPL franchise at the moment:

Chennai Super Kings – CSK: INR 22.90 crore

Delhi Capitals – DC: INR 12.90 crore

Kings XI Punjab – KXIP: INR 53.20 crore

Kolkata Knight Riders – KKR: 10.75 crore

Mumbai Indians – MI: INR 15.35 crore

Rajasthan Royals – RR: INR 34.85 crore

Royal Challengers Bangalore – RCB: INR 35.90 crore

Sunrisers Hyderabad – SRH: INR 10.75 crore

What are the slots available for each team?

Each team can have a maximum of 25 players on their roster. The following are the slots available for each team ahead of the IPL 2021 auction:

Chennai Super Kings – CSK: 7 slots (1 overseas)

Delhi Capitals – DC: 6 slots (2 overseas)

Kings XI Punjab – KXIP: 9 slots (5 overseas)

Kolkata Knight Riders – KKR: 8 slots (2 overseas)

Mumbai Indians – MI: 7 slots (4 overseas)

Rajasthan Royals – RR: 8 slots (3 overseas)

Royal Challengers Bangalore – RCB: 13 slots (4 overseas)

Sunrisers Hyderabad – SRH: 3 slots (1 overseas)

IPL 2021 auction player list

The complete list of players in the 2021 IPL auction can be found here. The list of overseas players can be found here.