What is it?

The IPL auction is the event by which the eight IPL teams recruit new players for the 2021 competition.

When is it?

The IPL 2021 auction will take place on Thursday 18 February 2021.

How does it work?

Each of the eight teams are given a budget of 85 crore (roughly £9.3m) to fill up their squads with a maximum of 25 players.

Before the auction begins, the teams are given an opportunity to retain the players that they would like to keep from last season.

The budget that remains after the retention process is then spent during the auction.

Each team’s method of recruiting players is different. Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad have spent 74.25 crore on retaining 17 and 22 of last season’s 25-man squad respectively, leaving them approximately 10.75 crore to fill up the remainder of their squad at the auction.

Kings XI Punjab, however, have only spent 31.8 crore on retaining 16 of their 25-man squad, leaving them 53.2 crore to sign nine more players at the auction.

The retention process was finalised on 20 January.

Each of the 292 players available at the auction have set themselves a base price – a price at which the bidding will be opened for them.

The players have been grouped by their speciality, with batsmen, all-rounders, wicket-keepers, fast bowlers and spinners being auctioned separately.

Each squad is restricted to a maximum of eight overseas players.

The process is complicated further by ‘Right To Match’ cards, which were introduced in 2018.

These allow a player’s previous team to match any winning offer for a player that they have just released.

In some cases, teams will have released a player with the intention of signing him back at a cheaper price using a ‘Right To Match’ card.

Who has entered?

A total of 292 players have entered the auction, including some of the biggest names in world cricket.

England and Australian players account for a number of the entrant to have set themselves the maximum base price of 2 crore, including Jason Roy, Steve Smith, Sam Billings, Mark Wood and Liam Plunkett.

Alex Hales, Aaron Finch and Alex Carey are also among the entrants.

Harbhajan Singh is arguably the highest-profile Indian player to have entered the auction. The spinner has set himself a base price of 2 crore.

Can I watch it?

The IPL auction will not be broadcast live in the UK, but will be live on Star Sports and Disney+ Hotstar.

When will the tournament take place?

The tournament schedule is yet to be confirmed, but will take place between April-May 2021.

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