The highly-anticipated Indian Premier League (IPL 2023) Auction has finally arrived as the fate of 405 players will be decided on December 23 (Friday). A total of 405 players will go under the hammer in the mini-auction. From a total of 991 players who had submitted their names for the auction, 369 players were shortlisted by the 10 franchises. Later, the list had 36 additions at the request of the franchises.
The full list of 405 players includes 273 Indians and 132 overseas players. Only four players are from associate nations. Out of the list of Indian players, 119 are capped players whereas 282 are uncapped.
The franchises have a maximum of 87 slots to fill in their squads out of which 30 will be overseas picks. As the franchises have been allocated an additional Rs 5 crore ahead of the mini-auction over the remaining amount.
For the first time in IPL Auction history, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has come up with a Tiebreak rule, which will only be applicable if two franchises make a similar bid for a player and don't have requisite funds available to outright secure the services of the player. In that case, the two franchises locked in the bidding war will make a 'Silent Written Bid'.
Tie-break rule in IPL 2023
"If a franchise makes a bid for a player that is the final bid that it can make for the player - i.e. the franchise does not have sufficient remaining balance on its 2023 Salary Cap to make the immediately next bid for the player once the applicable bidding increment is applied and...
"If one or more Franchise does make a Matching Bid for the player, the auctioneer will declare the player "sold" at a League Fee for 2023 in the amount of the Last Bid and will invoke the tiebreak procedure set out in paragraph 25 to determine which Franchise will sign the player for 2023."
The procedure of the Tie-break rule
"BCCI will invite each Franchise who made a Matching Bid for the player along with the Franchise who made the Last Bid to each submit a silent written bid (the "Tiebreak Bid"), on a form to be provided by BCCI.
"The Tiebreak Bid will indicate the amount, payable in one instalment, in Indian rupees that the Franchisee is prepared to pay to BCCI (not the player) in order to secure the player's services for the IPL 2023 season. NB. The amount of the Tiebreak Bid is separate from and in addition to the amount of the Last Bid or the amount of the Matching Bid as appropriate, both of which constitute the bid for the player. The Tiebreak Bid is the separate amount, which the Franchise is prepared to pay to BCCI and is not deducted from the relevant Franchise's Salary Cap. There is no limit on the amount of the Tiebreak Bid.
“BCCI will then open the written Tiebreak Bids and the player will be awarded to the Franchise who has made the highest Tiebreak Bid. If two or more highest Tiebreak Bids are equal, then only those highest bidders will be invited to repeat the process until there is a winner. The Tiebreak Bid amount will not be announced. The winning Franchisee will enter into a 2023 standard form IPL Player Contract with the player with a League Fee in the amount of its Last Bid or Matching Bid as appropriate and will commit to pay to BCCI within 30 days of the Player Auction the amount of its Tiebreak Bid (or highest Tiebreak Bid if there were multiple rounds of bidding).”
