THE Women’s Premier League (WPL) auction will be held in New Delhi. A formal communication has not yet been sent to the franchises but Cricbuzz understands that the teams have all been told informally about the likely venue.
The date of the auction has not yet been finalised, but the window has now been narrowed to November 26-27. Earlier, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had indicated that the auction would take place between November 26 and 29.
The auction is expected to be wrapped up in a single day despite it being, theoretically, a mega event. With only five teams in the WPL and a maximum squad size of 18 players, the process is unlikely to take long, even if as many as 90 players were to be auctioned.
That, however, is an unlikely scenario, as the teams are expected to enter the auction with quite a number of players retained. The franchises have been asked to submit their list of retained players by November 5.
Each team is allowed five retentions and should a side go for all five retentions, it will lose INR 3.5 crore for the No. 1 player, 2.5 crore for the second player, 1.75 crore for the third, 1 crore for the fourth retention and 50 lakh for the fifth player retained. The player purse for the auction is INR 15 crore and five retentions will cost a side 9.25 crore.
The BCCI has said that guideline price is for the salary cap calculations alone and the exact amount paid to a player can be at a variance from the suggested value. “While the amount paid to an individual player may differ from guideline price, the total amount based on the number of players retained will be used for salary cap calculation,” the BCCI said in a recent note to the franchises.
The guideline price for retaining an uncapped player is INR 50 lakh, and each team can retain a maximum of two uncapped players. In addition, a franchise can retain a maximum of three capped Indian players and no more than two overseas players can be in the retention list.
The BCCI has approved five Right to Match (RTM) options, but the number of RTMs available to a franchise will be contingent upon the number of players retained. For every player retained, the franchise will lose one RTM option.
For instance, if a team retains five players, it will not have the option of exercising RTM at the auction. On the other hand, a team going into the auction without any retentions, can exercise RTMs for five of its players. (Cricbuzz)