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MUMBAI:
The BCCI's upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) enters a crucial
phase tomorrow. Over 80 players will be up for auction in
an open bid process.
The
auction kicks off at 11 am and will last for 12 hours. DLF
Indian Premier League lays down the rules of the auction.
The IPL has also issued a set of uniform guidelines to all
its eight franchisees, giving them a clear overview of the
process and rules of the DLF IPL Player Auction. The Player
Auction will be a private auction, conducted by an independent
professional auctioneer Richard Madley who will also be the
sole arbiter as to all aspects of the auction.
Each
franchise will have a table in the room with a computer screen
provided. The auction will not be broadcast live.
However,
Sony, as the exclusive broadcaster, will release edited highlights
of the auction to the media as breaking news at the end of
each segment of the auction.
BCCI
VP Lalit Modi says, "The player auction rules is our
attempt to make tomorrow's auction a huge success.
The Governing Council of the DLF Indian Premier League is
pulling out all stops to ensure a free, transparent and fair
bidding process for a truly historic first-ever auction of
cricketers in India. I am certain all the franchises would
greatly benefit from this transparency and appreciate our
efforts in this direction."
Format
of the auction: The Auction will be an open auction with
each player being individually put up for bidding by the franchises.
The highest bid that is accepted by the auctioneer shall be
the buyer at that price. There are around 78 players in the
auction - a combination of Indian national team and foreign
cricketers. Each player has an annual "base player fee."
The
base player fee will be at which the bidding for that player
starts. This base player fee assumes that the player is available
for the entire season of the DLF Indian Premier League season,
including, if applicable, the Champions Tournament. This fee
will be adjusted on a pro-rata basis, depending on the player's
availability for the DLF IPL season in the first year.
Each
franchise has a total "purse" of up to $5 million
that it can spend on the auction for players for 2008.
Franchises
will not be able to make a bid for a player that would take
them beyond this total purse.
Players
in the auction will be arranged into "sets" of approximately
12 according to their base player fee, their cricketing specialism
and their expected availability for the 2008 DLF IPL season.
Interestingly,
if a player who on the day of the auction, is expected to
be unavailable in 2008 subsequently becomes available (eg.
through retirement, non-selection by national team or tour
cancellation), provided of course that the player is able
to obtain a no-objection certificate (NOC) for the 2008 season
from his home board, such player may, at the DLF IPL's discretion,
become part of the relevant franchise's squad for that season.
In
advance of the auction, franchises will be issued a list of
the players that will be auctioned, the composition of the
sets and the order in which the sets will be auctioned. For
each player, the following information will be included: name,
nationality, specialism, base player fee, and expected "percentage
availability" for the 2008 DLF IPL season. The minimum
"percentage availability" for any player included
in the auction will be 25 per cent.
Thus,
even if a player is expected to be either completely unavailable
or only available for less than four of the DLF IPL matches
in 2008, 25 per cent of the player fee bid for that player
in the auction will count against the $5m purse. For example,
the purchase for $400,000 of a player, who is expected to
be completely unavailable in 2008, will cause a deduction
of $100,000 from the franchise's overall $5m purse.
Each
player will be the subject of an open auction with the auctioneer
controlling the process. Bidders will raise a paddle to indicate
a bid (only one official bidder per franchise). Each bid will
represent the player fee per season to be paid by the franchise
to the player for each of the seasons 2008,
2009 and 2010, ignoring any periods of unavailability.
Once made, no bid may be withdrawn.
Bidding
increments will be as follows:
Bids
up to $100,000 - increments of $5,000
Bids
from $100,000 to $250,000 - increments of $10,000
Bids from $250,000 to $500,000 - increments of $25,000
Bids
in excess of $500,000 - increments at the auctioneer's discretion.
As
each player is sold, the franchise will be required to sign
a form confirming the terms of the agreement (name of player,
player fee agreed). The player fee will be deemed to include
any fee that may be payable to the player's agent.
Following
the conclusion of each set, there will be a break to allow
franchises time to re-evaluate their tactics. Players for
whom no bids are received when they are initially presented
for auction will be placed in a final set and will be re-presented
for auction once all of the initial sets have been concluded.
Franchises may not buy foreign players in advance of the auction
(whether such players are amongst the list of players to be
auctioned or otherwise).
After
the auction, franchises are free to purchase additional foreign
players subject to the franchises informing the BCCI/DLF IPL
of any such additional foreign players. The BCCI/DLF IPL will
approach the desired players on behalf of the franchise in
an attempt to negotiate the contracted fee up to an amount
set by the franchise, and will endeavour to obtain an NOC
from that player's home board.
If
more than one franchise is interested in a particular player,
the DLF IPL may hold a further Auction to determine which
Franchise will sign that player. The fees paid to any such
additional foreign players for 2008 (when added to the total
player fees for 2008 committed by the Franchise in the Auction)
must not exceed the maximum purse of $5m. Indian players who
are not in the Auction can be signed at any time.
The
player fees of any Icon players (Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly,
Yuvraj) - being 115 per cent of the highest player fee in
that franchise's squad - will count towards the maximum purse
of $5m.
The
contract with the player will be for a fixed term of three
years. The franchise is obligated to sign both agreements
in respect of players that it buys during the auction. Note
that the player fee is inclusive of the fee that is due to
the player's agent.
IPL
Squad rules: Each DLF IPL franchise squad must have a
minimum of 16 players per squad. This will include a maximum
of 8 currently available foreign players per squad (any foreign
players in a franchise's squad who are not available for any
reason will not count towards the total). Each franchise can
have a maximum of 4 foreign players in the playing XI for
each match.
The
squad will additionally consist of a minimum four under 22
players (the catchment players and the Indian national players
if so qualified can be counted for the purpose of this rule.
Foreign players may not be counted for the purpose of this
rule). These players must be under 22 years old on 1 April
of the relevant season.
The
auction rules stipulate that each squad should have a minimum
of four catchment area players per squad (the under 22 players
and the Indian national players if so qualified can be counted
for purpose of this rule). The catchment areas are defined
by reference to a player's registration with his local cricket
association.
Once
a player is "sold," the details will be logged on
to the central computer server and the public and the franchises'
screens will be updated accordingly.
The
player auction rules also contain an addendum on the rules
for Australian cricketers. Cricket Australia has indicated
that it will not give an NOC to an Australian player if the
franchise wanting to contract that player (a) has already
signed two Cricket Australia centrally contracted players
or (b) has already signed two players registered to the same
Australian State Association.
The
position being taken by Cricket Australia effectively means
that each franchise can only have up to a maximum of two centrally
contracted Australian players in its squad; and/or up to a
maximum of 2 Australian players from each State Association
in its squad.
In
addition, Brad Haddin and Mitchell Johnson have decided not
to take part in the IPL. They want to further their careers
in international cricket instead, media reports indicate.
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