The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will conduct a mini-auction before the new edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) kick-off in March 2023. Hardik Pandya’s Gujarat Titans (GT) defeated the Sanju Samson-led Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the grand finale of last season to lift their maiden trophy on IPL debut.
According to a report in Times of India, the IPL 2023 auction is slated to take place in Bengaluru on December 16. The overall purse of each team will be increased by INR 5 crore (from INR 90 crore to INR 95 crore) for the 2023 mini-auction. It is expected that most franchises will keep 15 core players and release the rest for them to enter the auction with at least INR 10 crores, if not more.
The IPL Governing Council has started the process for the upcoming auction by asking the ten franchises to submit their list of retained players by November 15. Unlike the mega auction last year, when two new franchises – Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants – were added and the old teams could retain a maximum of four players, there will no such cap for the mini-auction ahead of IPL 2023.
A couple of big overseas names will be on every franchise’s radar. Sam Curran, who didn’t register for the 2022 IPL auction, will be in big demand and for players like Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes, Adam Milne, Mark Wood, Cameron Green and Mitchell Starc, if they are available, can start a bidding war among the franchises.
A few young Indian domestic players, who have grabbed the eyeballs in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy will also be in line to have a big payday.
