Dhoni, Jadeja or Raina? New IPL teams to decide

 

MUMBAI: Six top Indian cricketers and four sought-after foreigners, from a pool of 50 cricketers, are likely to be among the hottest picks at the first-ever player draft in the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Tuesday. New Rising, the Pune franchise bought by Kolkata-based businessman Sanjiv Goenka, will have the option to pick MS Dhoni first while Intex Technologies owner Keshav Bansal, who invested in the Rajkot franchise, would be happy to get local boy Ravindra Jadeja.

Suresh Raina, R Ashwin, Ajinkya Rahane, Sanju Samson, Steve Smith, Faf du Plessis, Dwayne Bravo and Brendon McCullum will be among other cricketers who will be sought after. The two IPL franchises will have the option of picking five players each on an alternate basis, starting with New Rising, to form the crux of their new squads.

New Rising will have the first go in the draft because they paid more than o Intex in the IPL franchise auction earlier this month in New Delhi. New Rising bought the Pune franchise for Rs minus 16 crore while Intex bought o the Rajkot franchise for Rs minus 10 crore. After the two teams finish picking five players each, the remaining ones from the pool of 50-cricketers who until the previous season were employed with Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals - will go into a separate pool, to be brought up for auction on February 6 next year in Mumbai.

The two new franchises will have to pay Rs 12.5cr to the first player they pick at the draft, Rs 9.5cr to the second, Rs 7.5cr to the third, Rs 5.5cr to the fourth and Rs 4cr to the fifth. Should either franchise pick an uncapped player at the draft, a stipulated fee of Rs 4 crore will have to be paid.

However, there is a provision to safeguard the interests of the players in this formula being applied by the BCCI. If Dhoni's existing contract with Super Kings is anything more or less than Rs. 12.5cr (should he be picked first), the balance amount will have to be separately adjusted by the franchise buying him.

"If Dhoni was being paid only Rs 50 lac by Super Kings, he will continue to get only Rs 50 lac from the new franchise but Rs. 12.5cr will be deducted from the salary purse (the franchise won't be able to use this money). Likewise, if Dhoni was being paid Rs 20cr by Super Kings, the franchise buying him will find Rs 12.5cr deducted from the purse whereas it will have to pay Dhoni the balance of Rs 7.5cr additionally," an official said.

"The contract between the player and the earlier franchise will be shared with the new franchise so that there is absolute clarity. The contractual obligation will be the same," the official added.

The two franchises have a limited purse of Rs 66cr to form their squads for the season and a minimum spending of Rs 40cr is mandatory between now (at the draft) and the auction in February. These franchises also have the option of picking less than five players at the draft or not picking any player at all, which is unlikely to be the case.

Barring England and Sri Lanka, who have international engagements between April and May, all the other players available in the draft are available during the IPL.

New Rising is unlikely to let go of MS Dhoni, India's most successful captain, who will lead the national team into the World T20 at home next year just before the IPL. "He's still the most powerful individual cricketing brand to reckon with. He singlehandedly added great value to CSK in helping them create a phenomenal fan base," explained a brand executive who has worked with the IPL.

Since Intex won't have the option of settling for Dhoni, they're most likely to pick Jadeja first - the local Saurashtra boy who has grown up playing in Rajkot. "Expect Raina and Rahane to be the other top picks," an IPL official said.

DRIFT OF THE DRAFT

Total players available in the draft: 50
Each team can pick a minimum of zero players and maximum of 5
Fixed amount to be deducted from purse for players picked at the draft: 1st player (Rs 12.5 cr), 2nd player (Rs 9.5 cr), 3rd player (Rs 7.5 cr), 4th player (Rs 5.5 cr), 5th player (Rs 4 cr)