IPL 2021 Auction: 5 Interesting Rules Of The Auction You Must Know

IPL 2021 auction is set to take place and all eight franchises will be competing to grab their favourite players. A total of 292 players are part of IPL 2021 auction. Out of these 164 are Indian players. Rest 128 are foreign players. IPL 2021 is a mini-auction, unlike the mega auction which occurs after a gap of three years. Last month, eight franchises announced the list of released and retained players. Kings Punjab released a maximum of 9 players from their squad.

IPL auctions are governed by some set of rules which every franchise has to follow under any condition. BCCI also sets a limit on the number of overseas players in every squad to motivate Indian players in the league. Below are five interesting rules every franchise has to abide by during IPL 2021 auction.

85 Crore Spend Limit

Each of the eight franchises has been given a total spend limit of Rs. 85 crores in IPL 2021 auction. A franchise cannot spend more than their purse balance to buy players. Out of the Rs. 85 crore purse limit, Punjab Kings and Rajasthan Royals have the highest limit left in the auction- Rs. 53.2 crore and Rs. 37.85 crore respectively. RCB holds the third spot with Rs. 35.4 crore in their pockets.

Utilise At Least 75 Percent Of Total Amount

Every franchise has to spend 75 per cent of its total Rs. 85 crore limit in IPL 2021 auction. Also, if a franchisee fails to use its 75 per cent limit, the rest of the money will go to BCCI. Therefore, each franchise has to utilise at least Rs. 63.75 crore from their total purse of Rs. 85 crore. If they fell short, the rest of the money will go to BCCI.

For example, if a franchise forms the squad with 60 per cent of their purse limit of Rs. 85 crore, the rest 15 per cent of the money will go to BCCI. However, franchises do not have an upper limit to spend, therefore, they can also utilise all the funds to buy players during the IPL 2021 auction.

No Right To Match (RTM) Option This Time

Since IPL 2021 auction is a mini-auction, franchises do not have an option of right to match (RTM) card. During mega auctions, franchises have this RTM option through which they can re-sign their players without competing with other franchises. However, since RTM is not available in the IPL 2021 auction, franchisees need to bid for their former players to re-sign them.

Minimum 18 And Maximum 25 Players

A franchise needs to have a minimum of 18 players and a maximum of 25 players in their squad. No team can induct more than 25 players into the squad. RCB has the maximum available slots with 11 players. Rajasthan Royals and Punjab Kings have 9 available slots, which means they cannot buy more than 9 players in IPL 2021 auction. Sunrisers Hyderabad has the least number of slots available which is 3.

Maximum 8 Overseas Players In The Squad

To boost the induction of Indian players in the squad, BCCI has set the limit to a maximum of 8 overseas players in the squad. Any franchise cannot buy more than 8 foreign players in their entire squad. However, there is no lower limit. So, franchises can go with no foreign players in the squad too.

However, such a situation is impossible as each franchise has at least one overseas player in their team. Kings XI Punjab can sign maximum foreign players in IPL 2021 auction since they have 5 slots left. Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers can buy only 1 overseas player since they already have 7 overseas players in their squad.