After a lot of discussion and speculation, Kochi has emerged as the favourite to host the mini-auction for Indian T20 League 2023. Reports say that the marquee event will be taking place on December 23 as all the ten teams will look forward to rebuilding their squad for the 16th edition of the grandest T20 festival.
It is also been reported that all the teams will have an additional INR 5 crores in the bank along with the money that’s already left in their purse. Thus overall, all the teams will be having INR 95 crores each for the next season as Punjab with Rs. 8.45 crore has the largest purse going into the auction.
Meanwhile, the defending champions Gujarat will have Rs. 5.15 crore to spend while Chennai will have INR 7.95 crores, Bangalore will have Rs. 6.55 crore, Rajasthan will have INR 5.95 crore, Kolkata will have INR 5.45 crore. Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad will have 5.10 crores while Lucknow will have 5 crores to deal with, as per ESPNcricinfo reports.
Their budget can also increase depending on the number of players these franchises are letting go of. All these franchises are advised to send their final list of retention by November 15 as the board is expected to finalise the player’s pool by the first week of December.
Key pieces of information leading up to the mini-auction
The Punjab-based franchise has already changed their captain ahead of the 16th edition as Shikhar Dhawan has been announced as Mayank Agarwal’s replacement. It is also in the news that the opener might leave the franchise to join Bangalore ahead of the next season.
On the other hand, Ravindra Jadeja is likely to continue his association with Chennai while the Kolkata-based franchise are currently in a middle of a trade between Shivam Mavi and Lockie Ferguson.
Meanwhile, Ben Stokes, Cameron Green, Sam Curran and Sikandar Raza are expected to be the hot favourites in the auction. With Lucknow, Delhi and Punjab franchises having a foreigner short, they will look forward to getting any of them on board.
