The IPL draft in a nutshell

Dhoni will be paid only Rs 12.5 crore per year for the next two IPL seasons. He will continue to be paid the same as last year. He is likely to have been paid much higher than the stipulated figure.

M. S. Dhoni and Suresh Raina will be playing against each other for the first time in IPL.

1. The Pune franchise picked Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ajinkya Rahane, R. Ashwin, Steven Smith and Faf du Plessis. 

2. The Rajkot franchise signed Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Brendon McCullum, Faulkner and Dwayne Bravo.

3. As per the order of adding players to its kitty, each team’s auction purse was reduced by Rs 12.5 crore, Rs 9.5 crore, Rs 7.5 crore, Rs 5.5 crore and Rs 4 crore, respectively.

4. It does not mean Dhoni will be paid only Rs 12.5 crore per year for the next two IPL seasons. He will continue to be paid the same as last year. He is likely to have been paid much higher than the stipulated figure.

5. Similarly, Ajinkya Rahane’s IPL fee for the Royals is understood to be lower than the purse of Rs 9.5 crore allotted to him. He will continue to earn the lower amount.

What next for IPL?

1. The first trading window for teams to transfer players was made open from Tuesday. It will end on December 31.

2. There will be two more trading windows before and after the player auction, scheduled for February 6 next year. The second trading window will be from January 11 to 22, while the last window will be open from February 8 to 19.

3. Ahead of the player auction, the annual owners’ workshop will be held in Srinagar on January 13 and 14.

4. The IPL’s ninth edition is scheduled to start on April 9 in Mumbai and will conclude in Mumbai on May 29.