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The auction date for the Indian Premier League has become one of the most anticipated cricket events, particularly among fans of the world’s best T20 competition. They were glued to their television sets and streaming devices, watching the bidding war between IPL franchises as they competed to sign their favourite players during the auction process. Because of the importance of this procedure and to ensure a smooth event, the BCCI and IPL governing council frequently notify franchises of the auction date well in advance and choose a specific site.
The IPL auction format, as well as the process of selecting the top players on ipl mega auction date, are both very simple to grasp. It can also be referred to as the ipl auction remaining players list because the pool available for bidding at the auction includes cricketers who have not been retained or signed by their respective IPL franchises. These players are returned to the pool, and all IPL franchises are allowed to bid their desired sum in accordance with their available purse, with the highest bid winning the bid and obtaining the player.
The rules for purchasing picks on the ipl mega auction 2021 date are also simple to understand. Teams can have a minimum of 18 and a maximum of 25 players in their squads, with up to eight overseas players allowed. Four of these serve as the foundation for the overseas contingent of a playing XI as the IPL focuses more on Indian talent and enabling wings of the home-grown cricketers. There is also an extensive focus on local domestic players since at least two of the non-overseas picks part of a playing XI must be non-internationals.
To purchase cricketers on ipl 2023 auction date, teams now have an allocated purse of INR 80 crores, which gets reduced depending on the designated amount of players retained. This scenario usually doesn’t arise, but at least 75% of this money must be spent on players. Franchises can spend up to 30-40 per cent of their budget on the top 5 players.
In this article, we will be tracing time and discussing the dates on which the previous editions of the ipl auction date were held, starting from the inaugural season back in 2008 right up to 2019, 2020, 2021 auction and 2022. We will also look forward to the ipl auction for the 2023 tournament as well and discuss it in detail, including its schedule.
IPL Auction Dates of the Past
The first-ever ipl auction date was February 20 2008, when the original eight franchises compiled their first-ever squads. The focus at the time was reserved on attaining the icon players and building a squad around them, including overseas giants and youthful Indian stars. The total purse that franchises could spend on buying their picks was USD 5 million. Greats such as Sachin Tendulkar (Mumbai Indians), MS Dhoni (Chennai Super Kings), Virender Sehwag (Delhi Daredevils), Rahul Dravid (Royal Challengers Bangalore) and young stars like Virar Kohli (Royal Challengers Bangalore) and Pradeep Sangwan (Delhi Daredevils) were allocated teams through this process.
The IPL 2009 auction was the first time the tournament introduced a trading window for teams to swap players with each other. This process was used by Mumbai Indians (MI) to trade Ashish Nehra to Delhi Daredevils (DD) and get Shikhar Dhawan. MI traded Robin Uthappa to RCB and brought in Zaheer Khan. Given this was just the second year of the cycle, franchises had to bid for just 43 slots across the board. Of these, the highest-earning players were Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff for USD 1.55 million. The tournament was ultimately held in South Africa due to security reasons in India at the time of the Lok Sabha elections in the country.
The 2010 IPL auction was held on January 19 2010, in Mumbai. It was the final year of the initial three-year cycle. As many as 97 cricketers from across the globe registered for the auction, of which 66 were shortlisted for the bidding by eight IPL franchises. This was the first auction that witnessed the tie-breaker rule. The tie-breaker amount is used by franchises when the bids match with no further money left in their purse. In such a scenario, the team which can pay the BCCI the maximum value for that particular value among the number of tied bids gets the player. Two players – Shane Bond (Kolkata Knight Riders) and Kieron Pollard (Mumbai Indians) – were picked through this process.
The first of the mega auctions held after the inaugural season came for IPL 2011, where although the franchises were given an opportunity to retain a number of their existing players, the auction process for the released players still stretched up to two days. It was held on the 8th and 9th of January in 2011 in Bangalore. From the originally registered 416 players, 350 were up for grabs. Gautam Gambhir was the highest-earning player at this auction, going for USD 2,40,000 as KKR found their new skipper, who forged a highly successful association with the team.
The 2012 IPL auction witnessed the highest number of transfers before the bidding tussle from December 15 to January 20 2012. The auction was held on February 4 in Bangalore. Ahead of the auction, the BCCI and IPL governing council raised the probable squad spots from 30 to 33 cricketers and also increased the salary cap by USD 2 million. Each team could have a maximum of 11 overseas players in their squad. Notably, after just one season, the Kochi Tuskers Kerala were terminated as the IPL got reduced to a nine-team season. All the players who played for Tuskers in IPL 2011 went back to the auction pool.
The 2013 IPL auction was held in Chennai on February 3. The final auction for that three-year cycle saw an influx of just 108 players into the pool. Of these, 37 cricketers – with the highest from Australia (36) – got sold across franchises. This was the time when the unavailability of English cricketers hogged the limelight, with various players part of their respective County Championship sides withdrawn by their respective county clubs ahead of the auction.
For the 2014 auction, another mega auction was held on 12 and 13 February in Bangalore. This was when the ‘Right To Match’ card was in play quite a lot. The RTM card is used by a franchise to get a bid in their favour. When a side raises an RTM card at the end of a bidding war for a particular player, it essentially matches that bid and reserves the right to that player. Usually, this player is someone the franchise would’ve loved to retain, but he missed out in the race for retention. A total of 154 players were sold at this auction, including 104 Indians and 50 overseas cricketers. Yuvraj Singh was the highest-grossing player at this auction, with a winning bid of INR 14 crores.
IPL 2015 auction was witnessed on 16 February, before which there were as many as three trading windows prior to the auction. The salary purse for each team was increased to INR 63 crores for this auction as the BCCI and IPL authorities gave franchises a greater chance to expand their wings and finalise the right squads. A total of 66 players were sold at this mini-auction, with 43 Indians and 23 overseas cricketers purchased. Yuvraj Singh was once again the highest earning player at this auction with INR 16 crores initially, but this time his bid got matched by that of Dinesh Karthik.
The IPL 2016 auction was held on 6 February in Bangalore. This was an auction that witnessed a whopping 351 players shortlisted by the franchises’ communication with the BCCI. Of these, 94 cricketers were sold at the auction, 66 of which were Indians. By then, it had become pretty clear that the franchises were moving away from obsessing over overseas stars and giving Indian players their due attention, considering these were the players that determined their on-field fortunes over the season.
Originally due to be held on February 4 in Bangalore, the IPL 2017 auction was postponed by two weeks by the BCCI. On February 20, 2017, the auction was finally held. The board had confirmed that a whopping 799 players had registered for the auction. Of these, 351 players were up for grabs across the board. In an extensive filter applied by the franchises, only 66 players were purchased by eight sides.
The mega auction for the 2018 IPL witnessed five retentions per side before the auction held on 27 and 28 February in Bangalore. Teams also had the luxury of doing three RTMs on their released list of players. More than 1,000 cricketers had originally registered for the auction. The list was trimmed down to 169 players that got ultimately sold, of which 116 were Indians. Ben Stokes was the highest-earning pick at 12.5 crores, while Jaydev Unadkat became the wealthiest Indian pick at 11.5 crores.
The ipl auction 2019 date was announced by the BCCI. The auction was held on December 18 2018, in Jaipur. The auction was impacted to an extent by a reduction in the number of overseas players available for the tournament, as it had a minimal gap with the 2019 World Cup scheduled in the UK. 60 players were sold at this auction, with franchises spending a total of 106.80 crores.
The ipl 2020 auction date had been confirmed by the IPL governing council to be 19 December 2019 in Kolkata. For this auction, franchises got to spend an extra 3 crores in addition to their remaining purse from the INR 85 crores spent last season. A total of 971 players had originally registered for the auction, for which 62 players were sold. This time the number of overseas sold (29) nearly matched the Indian players picked. Pat Cummins was the highest-earning pick at 15.50 crores with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
Held in Chennai that year, the mega 2021 ipl auction date was 18 February, just weeks before the tournament began. A whopping 1,097 players had originally registered for the auction, of which 292 got shortlisted at this mini-auction. Ultimately, franchises managed to bag 57 players as they merely tried fine-tuning certain slots in the last year of that three-year cycle on that cricket ipl 2021 auction date. Teams once again had a budget of INR 85 crores for the auction held down south.
The ipl 2022 auction date was the 12th and 13th of February 2022 in Bangalore. It was the most recent of the mega auctions held for the IPL as it re-expanded its wings up to 10 teams, with the inclusion of Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and Gujarat Titans (GT). Franchises were given a chance to retain players and make pre-season signings for them to attain a level footing with each other. At the auction, a whopping sum of 600 players went up for grabs as teams managed to rebuild or establish their fresh core for the three-year cycle ahead.
IPL 2023 Auction Date – When is it Happening?
The ipl 2022 mega auction date is scheduled for December 23 in late 2022. The auction will be held in Kochi, Kerala, as ten IPL franchises try to finalise their respective squads. The IPL 2023 mini-auction, the first of the current three-year cycle, will see these teams compete for their favourite players in respective squads and finalise their playing contingent for the tournament to be played in April-May.
According to the information available, 405 of the original 991 registered cricketers will be going under the hammer. Teams have to fill 87 open positions, 30 of which can be filled by international players. The influx of nearly half of the registered players into the auction pool, despite the fact that less than one-fourth of the slots were actually filled, has only added to the confusion.
What to Expect from the IPL 2023 Auction?
The auction format for the IPL 2023 auction is quite easy to understand. Teams will get to finalise their respective squads from the collective pool of released players at the bidding war. This pool features those who weren’t retained or signed before the auction by all ten IPL franchises. The franchise will be able to hire 405 of the original 991 registered cricketers.
Teams must fill 87 open positions, 30 of which can be filled by international players. With less than one-fourth of the slots to be filled in reality, the influx of nearly half of the registered players into the auction pool has only added to the excitement surrounding the upcoming IPL 2023 auction.
There are no RTM cards allowed. Franchises will get an additional INR 5 crores to spend on top of their remaining purse available from last season. This will give franchises an opportunity to spread their wings after undergoing the task of trading and releasing their players from IPL 2022. Below are two lists: the first one featuring the players traded in and out by sides ahead of the auction and the other comprising of released and retained players along with their remaining purses for the ipl auction 2023.
Transferred Players
| Player | Salary | From | To |
| Jason Behrendorff | ₹75 lakh | RCB | MI |
| Lockie Ferguson | ₹10 crore | GT | Kolkata Knight Riders |
| Rahmanullah Gurbaz | ₹50 lakh | ||
| Shardul Thakur | ₹10.75 crore | DC | |
| Aman Khan | ₹20 lakh | KKR | DC |
| Teams | Released Players | Retained Players | Purse Remaining |
| Delhi Capitals | Shardul Thakur, Tim Seifert, Ashwin Hebbar, KS Bharat, Mandeep Singh | Rishabh Pant (C), David Warner, Prithvi Shaw, Ripal Patel, Rovman Powell, Sarfaraz Khan, Yash Dhull, Mitchell Marsh, Lalit Yadav, Axar Patel, Anrich Nortje, Chetan Sakariya, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Khaleel Ahmed, Lungi Ngidi, Mustafizur Rahman, Aman Khan, Kuldeep Yadav, Praveen Dubey, Vicky Ostwal | INR 19.45 crore |
| Rajasthan Royals | Anunay Singh, Corbin Bosch, Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham, Karun Nair, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Rassie van der Dussen, Shubham Garhwal, Tejas Baroka | Sanju Samson (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shimron Hetmyer, Devdutt Padikkal, Jos Buttler, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, Prasidh Krishna, Trent Boult, Obed McCoy, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Sen, Kuldip Yadav, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, KC Cariappa | INR 13.2 crore |
| Royal Challengers Bangalore | Jason Behrendorff, Aneeshwar Gautam, Chama Milind, Luvnith Sisodia, Sherfane Rutherford | Faf du Plessis (capt), Virat Kohli, Suyash Prabhudessai, Rajat Patidar, Dinesh Karthik, Anuj Rawat, Finn Allen, Glenn Maxwell, Wanindu Hasaranga, Shahbaz Ahmed, Harshal Patel, David Willey, Karn Sharma, Mahipal Lomror, Mohammed Siraj, Josh Hazlewood, Siddarth Kaul, Akash Deep | INR 8.75 crore |
| Gujarat Titans | Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Lockie Ferguson, Dominic Drakes, Gurkeerat Singh, Jason Roy, Varun Aaron | Hardik Pandya (capt), Shubman Gill, David Miller, Abhinav Manohar, Sai Sudharsan, Wriddhiman Saha, Matthew Wade, Rashid Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Vijay Shankar, Mohammed Shami, Alzarri Joseph, Yash Dayal, Pradeep Sangwan, Darshan Nalkande, Jayant Yadav, R Sai Kishore, Noor Ahmad | INR 19.25 crore |
| Kolkata Knight Riders | Pat Cummins, Sam Billings, Aman Khan, Shivam Mavi, Mohammad Nabi, Chamika Karunaratne, Aaron Finch, Alex Hales, Abhijeet Tomar, Ajinkya Rahane, Ashok Sharma, Baba Indrajith, Pratham Singh, Ramesh Kumar, Rasikh Salam, Sheldon Jackson | Shreyas Iyer (capt), Nitish Rana, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Lockie Ferguson, Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Anukul Roy, Rinku Singh | INR 7.05 crore |
| Lucknow Superb Giants | Andrew Tye, Ankit Rajpoot, Dushmantha Chameera, Evin Lewis, Jason Holder, Manish Pandey, Shahbaz Nadeem | KL Rahul (capt), Ayush Badoni, Karan Sharma, Manan Vohra, Quinton de Kock, Marcus Stoinis, Krishnappa Gowtham, Deepak Hooda, Kyle Mayers, Krunal Pandya, Avesh Khan, Mohsin Khan, Mark Wood, Mayank Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi | INR 23.35 crore |
| Punjab Kings | Mayank Agarwal, Odean Smith, Vaibhav Arora, Benny Howell, Ishan Porel, Ansh Patel, Prerak Mankad, Sandeep Sharma, Writtick Chatterjee | Shikhar Dhawan (capt), Shahrukh Khan, Jonny Bairstow, Prabhsimran Singh, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Jitesh Sharma, Raj Bawa, Rishi Dhawan, Liam Livingstone, Atharva Taide, Arshdeep Singh, Baltej Singh, Nathan Ellis, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, Harpreet Brar | INR 32.2 crore |
| Chennai Super Kings | Dwayne Bravo, Robin Uthappa, Adam Milne, Hari Nishaanth, Chris Jordan, Bhagath Varma, KM Asif, Narayan Jagadeesan | MS Dhoni (capt), Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ambati Rayudu, Subhranshu Senapati, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Dwaine Pretorius, Mitchell Santner, Ravindra Jadeja, Tushar Deshpande, Mukesh Chowdhary, Matheesha Pathirana, Simarjeet Singh, Deepak Chahar, Prashant Solanki, Maheesh Theekshana | INR 20.45 |
| Sunrisers Hyderabad | Kane Williamson, Nicholas Pooran, Jagadeesha Suchith, Priyam Garg, Ravikumar Samarth, Romario Shepherd, Saurabh Dubey, Sean Abbott, Shashank Singh, Shreyas Gopal, Sushant Mishra, Vishnu Vinod | Abdul Samad, Aiden Markram, Rahul Tripathi, Glenn Phillips, Abhishek Sharma, Marco Jansen, Washington Sundar, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Kartik Tyagi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, Umran Malik | INR 42.25 crore |
| Mumbai Indians | Kieron Pollard, Anmolpreet Singh, Aryan Juyal, Basil Thampi, Daniel Sams, Fabian Allen, Jaydev Unadkat, Mayank Markande, Murugan Ashwin, Rahul Buddhi, Riley Meredith, Sanjay Yadav, Tymal Mills | Rohit Sharma (capt), Tim David, Ramandeep Singh, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Tristan Stubbs, Dewald Brevis, Jofra Archer, Jasprit Bumrah, Arjun Tendulkar, Arshad Khan, Kumar Kartikeya, Hrithik Shokeen, Jason Behrendorff, Akash Madhwal | INR 20.55 crore |
IPL 2023 Mega Auction Date – Will There Be One?
The mega auction is one where franchises get to retain only a handful of their players and release a hefty chunk of their playing roster back into the auction pool. This is usually an extensive process since a mega auction often determines a team’s competitive edge over a three-year cycle. Failing to compile the right kind of squad at a mega auction leaves a franchise vulnerable to being edged out on the field, with other sides carrying greater balance and quality personnel up their sleeves.
As for IPL 2023 auction, no, it will not be a mega auction. The mega auction for this three-year cycle had been scheduled back in 2022 when two new teams joined the IPL roster, and over 1,000 players were registered for the auction while teams tried to finalise their squads. Despite the IPL auction being of utmost importance to all franchises, there was no reason for the BCCI to consider making it a mega auction.
How to Watch the IPL 2023 Auction Live?
The ipl 2023 auction can be viewed live on television as well as through streaming platforms available in India and around the world. The IPL has broadcasters in both India and overseas territories as a global product, indicating the league’s growing global viewership. The ipl player auction 2023 is only a small part of it, but it is an appealing one, with teams competing for only 87 vacant slots out of a total of 445 players, only 30 of whom will be from outside the country.
In India, the ipl auction live can be viewed on television as well as through ipl auction live streaming platforms. While the event will be broadcast in both English and Hindi by the host broadcaster, fans will be able to stream Hindi and other language-based channels through its digital app ‘Disney+Hotstar’.
Fans in other countries can watch the ipl auction live on the following channels and their digital streaming platforms:
USA: Willow TV
UK: Sky Sports
AUS: Fox Sports
NZ: Sky Sports NZ
SL: Dialog TV
PAK: Ten Sports
SA: SuperSport
UAE: AsianNet TV
Fans who are unable to view the ipl auction on these platforms can follow the auction process on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, as well as the franchises’ social media handles on the same platforms for ipl auction live update.
The auction will take place in Kochi and will begin at 2:30 PM IST.
Conclusion
In this article, we talked about the ipl 2021 auction date, the previous dates used for the ipl auctions held in the past seasons and the changes observed in the process over the years. Along the way, we also looked ahead to the IPL 2023 auction, and understood why it is crucial, and also got details as to where and when we can follow it exactly.
