All the teams have to announce their Retention List to the Indian Cricket Board ahead of the mini-auction. Each team can retain around 15 players this time and have to release the remaining 10. However, last year, the team size was set to a maximum of 25 while the minimum number of players in the team was 18.
Star Sports will broadcast a special show on 15 November 2022 from 6 to 7 pm. During the show, the list of retained players will be discussed and analyzed with legends of the game like Sanjay Manjrekar, Harbhajan Singh, Aakash Chopra, and more.
It is going to be a very difficult task to pick and choose players that the teams signed last season. The franchises who made it to the playoffs this year- Gujarat, Lucknow, Rajasthan, and Bangalore will look to retain 15 players. While the bottom-placed teams of last season might make some massive changes in their squad.
All eyes are on the mini-auction
The mini players’ auction for the tournament is likely to take place on December 23 in Kochi. However, an official announcement is yet to be made. According to reports, the auction would be a one-day affair and will be conducted in Kochi.
However, several teams have already made some big moves in the trading window to strengthen their squad. The Kolkata franchise has made three additions to their squad during the trading window as Lockie Ferguson and Rahmanullah Gurbaz joined them from Titans. While they included Shardul Thakur in a trade-in deal with Delhi for Aman Khan. While Sam Billings and Pat Cummins have pulled out of the upcoming season and might not get retained.
Mumbai has signed Australian fast bowler Jason Behrendorff from Bangalore in a trade deal. While their legendary all-rounder Kieron Pollard has announced retirement from playing in the league but he joined Mumbai as a batting coach to continue his journey with them.
Rajasthan assembled the best possible squad in the mega-auction, held earlier this year in February. They have had all bases covered right from the auction table and it reflected right in their performance in the tournament this year but some players have failed to deliver as per expectations. Hence, we might witness the Royals releasing some players ahead of the upcoming big league.
