India stars Rishabh Pant and Pratika Rawal headline a star-studded list of 600 players who will go under the hammer at the third Delhi Premier League (DPL) auction on Wednesday, as franchises look to finalise
their squads for the upcoming season.
The auction pool comprises 400 men’s and 200 women’s cricketers, with eight men’s franchises and four women’s teams taking part. Ahead of the auction, teams have already retained 65 men’s and 28 women’s players.
Each men’s franchise entered the season with a purse of Rs 1.5 crore, while the women’s teams were allotted Rs 75 lakh. The cost of retained players has already been deducted, leaving franchises to spend the remaining balance during the auction.
The player pool has been divided into four categories based on experience. The marquee category includes India internationals, India A players and those who have been part of an IPL or Women’s Premier League (WPL) squad over the last three seasons.
Category A features players who have represented Delhi’s senior teams in the Ranji Trophy, Vijay Hazare Trophy, Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Senior Women’s One-Day Trophy or Senior Women’s T20 Trophy in the past three domestic seasons. Category B consists of Delhi’s Under-23, Under-19 and junior representatives, while Category C includes DDCA league performers and registered players.
The men’s base prices are set at Rs 10 lakh for marquee players, Rs 5 lakh for Category A, Rs 3 lakh for Category B and Rs 1 lakh for Category C. For the women’s auction, the corresponding base prices are Rs 5 lakh, Rs 3 lakh, Rs 1.5 lakh and Rs 75,000.
Pant, who recently left the Lucknow Super Giants to return to the Delhi Capitals in the IPL, leads an impressive men’s marquee list that also includes Ishant Sharma, Mayank Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Simarjeet Singh, Suyash Sharma, Digvesh Rathi, Himmat Singh, Anuj Rawat, Vansh Bedi, Kuldip Yadav, Sarthak Ranjan and Tejasvi.
On the women’s side, Pratika Rawal is joined by Priya Punia, Priya Mishra, Parunika Sisodia and Simran Dil Bahadur in the marquee category.
Adding another tactical element to the auction, every franchise will have the option of using one Right to Match (RTM) card, allowing them to retain the services of a player by matching the highest bid made by another team.
