IPL players' draft to be in held on 15 December in Mumbai

THE NEW PUNE AND RAJKOT franchises will take part in the auctions to pick five players each at the Bandra-Kurla complex in Mumbai at the Mumbai Cricket Association's clubhouse.

"The draft pick is to be held at the BKC clubhouse starting at 12:15 pm on the 15th," a BCCI source said.

The Pune franchise which is owned by Sanjeev Goenka's New Rising will have the choice to pick the first player thanks to a lower bid. Intex won the bid to have Rajkot as their base.

The cricketers of the two teams will be divided into two groups of capped and uncapped players and the top players willl be sold through a draft system. The upper limit for the franchises to buy players is Rs 66 crore and the lower limit is set at Rs 40 crore.

The first list of the draft is expected to have MS Dhoni and will be interesting to see whether he attracts the same bid as he did in the inaugural auction in 2007. All eyes will be on Rajkot as it will be interesting to see whether they gun for home-grown talent Ravindra Jadeja, especially after his successful comeback against South Africa in the Test series.

Ajinkya Rahane, Steve Smith and Shane Watson, Suresh Raina, Ravichandran Ashwin, Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Bravo are the other players who are included in the first draft list.

The first capped player is expected to get Rs 12.5 crore, while the second, third, fourth and fifth capped players are likely to get Rs 9.5, Rs 7.5, Rs 5.5 and Rs 4 crore respectively. Uncapped players are expected to be picked up at Rs 4 crore each.

The main player auction will take place in Bangalore on February 16.