Indian Premier League auctions to be held on February 20: Big bucks on offer

After much delay and speculations, the auction for the 2017 season of the Indian Premier League will be held on February 20, with a maximum of 76 players going under the hammer.

The 2017 Indian Premier League auction will be held in Bengaluru on February 20. The decision was taken in an internal meeting of the Board of Control for Cricket in India officials here on Friday.

The Indian Premier League auction for the 2017 season will be held on February 20 in Bengaluru.(BCCI)

As per the procedure, on the eve of the auction there will be a franchisees meeting. On February 21, a workshop will be conducted for the franchisees.

In their next step, the BCCI will circulate a list of all the players who have registered for the auction to the clubs. Friday was the deadline for registration. A final list for the auction will then be prepared depending on the interest shown by the franchises.

The IPL franchises will go into the player auction with a maximum of Rs 143.33 crores purse for 2017 season.

The teams can have a maximum of 27 players including nine overseas players. A maximum of 76 players, including 28 overseas, can be bought at the auction.

Heading into the auction, Kings XI Punjab, who finished in last position in the 2016 IPL, have the maximum balance of 23.35 crore rupees, followed by Delhi Daredevils with 23.1 crore rupees and defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad with rupees 20.1 crore rupees.

Out of all the franchisees, Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore have the least balance, with Mumbai the lowest with 11.5 crore rupees followed by RCB with 12.82 crore rupees.

Among the number of players, both MI and RCB have the largest number of total players with 20, with RCB having the most overseas players with eight. The team that will benefit the most will be two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders, who just have 14 players and four overseas players. With Andre Russell banned for one year due to a doping whereabouts violation, the hunt for a new foreign player will be the key for KKR in this auction.

It is not a full-fledged auction as most of the teams have retained their core group of players. Despite their flop show in the final Twenty20 game of the series against India, the main attraction of the auction is expected to be the England players.

The players who have been released will be also be up for sale.