Dhoni iNC Goes on Sale

MUMBAI: The Indian international players such as MS Dhoni, RP Singh, Virender Sehwag, and Anil Kumble will in all probability be up for grabs for a minimum base price of $300,000-400,000 for the upcoming auction for the Indian Premier League (IPL).

The IPL committee has set base prices for different category of players to ensure that players get a minimum fee per year for the 44 days they play in a year. While top current Indian international players, such as the above mentioned will be up for sale for the highest bidder above the base price, the four so-called stalwarts of Indian cricket who have been named ‘Iconic Players’: Sachin Tendulkar (Mumbai), Sourav Ganguly (Kolkata), Rahul Dravid (Bangalore) and Yuvraj Singh (Mohali), will be paid 15% more than the top player’s fee in that particular team.

Foreign players such as Shane Warne will also be in the top auction league with a base price of $300,000, a BCCI official said.

Other international Indian players contracted by BCCI, who do not fit any of the above criteria, will be for sale at a minimum price between $100,000-$125,000. The contracted Ranji Trophy players will come at a catalogue price of $50,000 and the under 21 junior category have been fixed at $ 20,000.

There is expected to be a cap of $5-6 million for each franchisee, which excludes under 21 and players outside the contracted pool of players by BCCI, to ensure fair play and balance of players between the eight teams.

The IPL committee has scheduled a meeting next week with the six franchise owners to discuss the details and the bidding process with the six teams of the franchise owners.

The understanding is that if the players get picked up for more than their catalogue price, then IPL gets 20% of the players contracted amount while if the reverse takes place, then the IPL fund will bear the difference.

Franchise owners are of the opinion that it will finally come to a demand-supply ratio, and such fixed rates will finally not work. In fact, one of the franchise owners on condition of anonymity said the team owners are also allowed to approach players outside of the contracted BCCI player pool, and could settle on a price that is agreeable by the owner and the player.

With a total of 16 players to be taken on board by the eight teams, of which a maximum of only 4 - 6 international players can be a part of one team, owners are in informal discussion and consultations with players on team dynamics and how to work out the math of players.

Last month, the BCCI raised a whopping $1.8 billion from the eight franchise owners. GMR Holdings bagged team Delhi for $86 million, Mukesh Ambani-led RIL won Mumbai for $115 million. India Cements snagged Chennai for $95 million while UB Group picked up Bangalore for $114 million. Preity Zinta-Ness Wadia-Karan Paul-Mohit Burman won the Mohali team for $78 million while UK’s Emerging Media won Jaipur for $69 million. Hyderabad went to Deccan Chronicle Holdings for $110 million. The Kolkata team went to Shah Rukh Khan-Juhi Chawla-Jay Mehta for $77 million. The base price was set at $50 million.

IPL has contracted the top 80 cricketers according to ICC rankings, which will enable each franchisee to bid for Indian and overseas players contracted by IPL.

Source: EconomicTimes