Dhoni, Ashwin, Rahane among top picks in IPL draft

Other notable names up for grabs from the draft are Ravichandran Ashwin, Suresh Raina, Brendon McCullum, Dwayne Bravo (all formerly with CSK), Ajinkya Rahane, Shane Watson and Australia captain Steve Smith (all with Rajasthan Royals before the two-year suspension). Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals were suspended owing to the involvement of some of their officials and co-owners in the 2013 IPL spot-fixing scandal, which was probed by the Supreme Court-appointed Justice R M Lodha committee.

The two new IPL Franchises could select up to 5 players each and they did exactly that.

The players are from the two suspended franchises and they will be segregated into two pools capped and uncapped. The first capped player would be paid 12.5 crore, while the remaining four capped players are to get Rs 9.5 crore, Rs 7.5 crore, Rs 5.5 crore, and Rs 4 crore respectively.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni will play for Pune Franchise.

Those who will not be selected, will go into the IPL auctions, to be held in February, 2016.

While all eyes will be on whether Pune opt for Dhoni or go for the younger options available, Rajkot will most likely want to bag Ravindra Jadeja as that would provide a local connection, considering the India all-rounder hails from Saurashtra. Pune and Rajkot will be allowed to pick a maximum of four capped Indian players each, in accordance with the existing retention rule.

Pune will get the chance to select the first player from the draft as they had managed to bid lowest in the team auction (Rs 10 crore). All-rounders James Faulkner and Dwayne Bravo are the two all-rounders, who were picked in the newly-formed Rajkot franchise. The two new teams will have a minimum of Rs. 40 crore and a maximum of Rs. 66 crore to buy players. Each Team will have the right (but not obligation) to renew the player contract of any player chosen by it during the Player Draft for the 2017 Season at the same league fee as was payable for the 2016 Season.

“The trading window (for buying players left free by other franchises) also commences on December 15 and ends on December 31”, the source added. India’s limited-over captain is expected to lead the country at next year’s World T20. An uncapped player stands to earn Rs 4 crore, if picked.