NEW DELHI: 2021 was supposed to be the year of a mega IPL auction, along with possible inclusion of new team(s). The COVID-19 pandemic however forced the Indian Premier League to refrain from any big changes this season.
But nevertheless, the 2021 IPL auction is now just around the corner. Although it’s a ‘mini auction’, a lot still hangs in the balance for the the 8 different franchises, who will be focussed on bolstering their squads for the upcoming season.
The 2021 IPL auction is slated for February 18 in Chennai in a closed bio-bubble environment, and franchises are all set to buy new players ahead of IPL 14. While some franchises will be focusing on minor adjustments, others are set to go in for big changes with a big purse at their disposal.
Here are all the details that you need to know ahead of the auctions that are scheduled for Thursday, February 18:
What: IPL Player Auction 2021
Auction venue – Hotel ITC Grand Chola, Chennai
Time – 3:00 pm IST
Where to follow: Catch all live updates, team composition, price details and final squads of all teams on TimesofIndia.com
Number of players – A total of 292 players are set to go under the hammer that includes giants like Aussies Steve Smith and Glenn Maxwell. Swashbuckling batsman and current World No. 1 T20I batsman David Malan has also thrown his hat in the ring. As far as big names from India go, Harbhajan Singh and Kedar Jadhav will be in the highest base price category (Rs 2 Crore) . The pool includes 65 capped and 227 uncapped players with 164 Indians. Players from 10 countries are in the fray.

Purses – With a new identity — Punjab Kings (earlier known as Kings XI Punjab) are set to go all out at the auction table, come Thursday. After releasing 9 players that included the likes of all-rounder Glenn Maxwell, Punjab currently have the biggest purse, INR 53.2 crores. Looking for a major overhaul, Punjab will find themselves pretty busy at the table.
Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad will not be able to splurge this time, as both teams have only INR 10.75 crores each in their kitty — the lowest purse among the franchises.

Base prices – The players have been divided into 5 levels in terms of base prices, that range from INR 50 lakhs to INR 2 crores.

Here’s a closer look at how the franchises are currently poised ahead of the auctions:
Punjab Kings
Players retained – KL Rahul, Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Nicholas Pooran, Mandeep Singh, Sarfaraz Khan, Deepak Hooda, Prabhsimran Singh, Mohammed Shami, Chris Jordan, Darshan Nalkande, Ravi Bishnoi, Murugan Ashwin, Arshdeep Singh, Harpreet Brar, Ishan Porel
Slots available – 9

Royal Challengers Bangalore
Players retained – Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Yuzvendra Chahal, Devdutt Padikkal, Josh Philippe, Mohammad Siraj, Washington Sundar, Navdeep Saini, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pawan Deshpande, Adam Zampa, Kane Richardson
Traded Player(s) – Daniel Sams and Harshal Patel from Delhi Capitals
Slots available – 11

Mumbai Indians
Players retained – Rohit Sharma, Quinton de Kock, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan (WK), Chris Lynn, Anmolpreet Singh, Saurabh Tiwary, Aditya Tare, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Anukul Roy, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, Rahul Chahar, Jayant Yadav, Dhawal Kulkarni, Mohsin Khan
Slots available – 7

Chennai Super Kings
Players retained – MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, N Jagadeesan, Faf Du Plessis, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sam Curran, Ravi Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Mitchell Santner, Josh Hazlewood, Shardul Thakur, Karn Sharma, KM Asif, Imran Tahir, R. Sai Kishore, Deepak Chahar, Lungi Ngidi
Traded player(s) – Robin Uthappa from Rajasthan Royals
Slots available – 6

Rajasthan Royals
Players retained – Sanju Samson, Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler, Riyan Parag, Shreyas Gopal, Rahul Tewatia, Mahipal Lomror, Kartik Tyagi, Andrew Tye, Jaydev Unadkat, Mayank Markande, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Anuj Rawat, David Miller, Manan Vohra
Slots available – 9

Kolkata Knight Riders
Players retained – Eoin Morgan, Dinesh Karthik, Nitish Rana, Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Rahul Tripathi, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Pat Cummins, Prasidh Krishna, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakaravarthy, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Tim Seifert.
Slots available – 8

Sunrisers Hyderabad
Players retained – David Warner, Manish Pandey, Kane Williamson, Jonny Bairstow, W Saha, Shreevats Goswami, Priyam Garg, Virat Singh, Rashid Khan, Vijay Shankar, Mohammad Nabi, Abhishek Sharma, Mitchell Marsh, Jason Holder, Abdul Samad, T Natarajan, Khaleel Ahmed, Sandeep Sharma, Basil Thampi, Shahbaz Nadeem, Siddarth Kaul, Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Slots available – 3

Delhi Capitals
Players retained – Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma, R Ashwin, Lalit Yadav, Avesh Khan, Pravin Dubey, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Marcus Stoinis, Shimron Hetmyer, Chris Woakes
Slots available – 8