IPL auction: Maximum of 76 players to be bought

As many as 76 players including 28 from overseas can be bought at the 2017 Indian Premier League auction to be held in Bengaluru on February 20.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India, on Friday, announced the IPL auction date on what was the last day of the player registration.

The auction was originally proposed for February 4 but was delayed in the wake of the Supreme Court order that led to an administrative crisis in the BCCI with its president Anurag Thakur and secretary Ajay Shirke being removed for not implementing the Lodha panel recommendations.

The Committee of BCCI Administrators is now in place and one of their immediate tasks is to fast track the preparations for the IPL beginning April 5.

In a release, the BCCI said 750 players have registered for the auction.

"The IPL franchises will go into the player auction with a maximum of ₹143.33 crore purse for 2017 season," the statement read.

"The teams can have a maximum of 27 players including 9 overseas players. A maximum of 76 players, including 28 overseas, can be bought at the auction," it read further.

The team that goes into the auction with the biggest purse is Kings XI Punjab, having ₹ 23.35 crore at its disposal.

Delhi Daredevils are second in the list with a balance purse of ₹ 23.1 crore.

Mumbai Indians will have the least amount of money to be spent as they are only left with 11.555 crore, a little more than Royal Challengers Bangalore (12.825 crore). The latest IPL entrants, Pune Super Giants and Gujarat Lions, are left with ₹ 17.5 crore and 14.35 crore respectively.

With squad limit being 27, Kolkata Knight Riders are expected to do a lot of buying at the auction, having got only 14 players in their roster so far.

The auction will be followed by a day long IPL Franchise Workshop on February 21.

In December, the big names that were released from their respective squads were India pacer Ishant Sharma, South African speedster Dale Steyn and former England batting star Kevin Pietersen, who has now ruled himself out of the upcoming edition.

As many as 140 cricketers, including 44 overseas players, were retained, while 63 were let go by the eight franchises.