It’s official. Mahendra Singh Dhoni will wear a non-Chennai Super Kings jersey in the Indian Premier League for the first time when he turns up for the new Pune franchise, owned by Sanjeev Goenka’s New Rising, in the next two editions.
It will also be the first time that Dhoni and Suresh Raina, the highest run-getter in the IPL, will square up against each other after the left-hander was bought by the Rajkot franchise, owned by Intex Technologies, as its marquee player during Tuesday’s player draft for the two new teams at the Mumbai Cricket Association’s clubhouse.
Both sides signed the full complement of five players, ahead of the player auction scheduled for February 6. The Pune franchise, which had the right to start picking players, chose Dhoni, Ajinkya Rahane, R. Ashwin, Steve Smith and Faf du Plessis.
Besides Raina, the Rajkot franchise added home-boy Ravindra Jadeja, Brendon McCullum, James Faulkner and Dwayne Bravo to its roster.
This meant that of the 10 players assigned to the new teams, seven were from Super Kings and three from Rajasthan Royals (Rahane, Smith and Faulkner).
Likely to lead While both owners stressed that they had not finalised the captain, it is understood that Dhoni and Raina will soon be unveiled as skippers of their respective franchises.
Subrata Talukdar, New Rising representative, revealed that they had planned the draft strategy with Dhoni as the nucleus.
“We were targeting eight players in order of priority and it worked in this draft. We have got players according to our plan,” said Talukdar after the draft which lasted barely 15 minutes.
Intex director Keshav Bansal explained the rationale behind opting for big-hitting batsmen. “Rajkot is a high-scoring pitch and if you talk about the IPL, it is a high-scoring competition. So the idea is to have really aggressive batsmen, but at the same time you need strong bowlers as well,” he said.
Status quo on fees The teams have exhausted Rs. 39 crore of their total purse of Rs. 66 crore. However, despite the denominations attached to each of the five players signed, the players’ payment would remain the same as their signing fees with the Super Kings or Royals last year.
For instance, Dhoni and Raina, having been signed up-front by both the teams, were valued at Rs. 12.5 crore each for the draft. However, their actual fees, kept under wraps since both were among the retained players by the Super Kings, will continue to be the same as last year.
The IPL chairman, Rajeev Shukla, after consulting with Ratnakar Shetty (BCCI general manager, game development), who has been handed the additional charge of the IPL as well, clarified that the actual fees of the players will continue to be the same, irrespective of the auction purse tag.
The actual fees of the players signed on Tuesday are likely to be revealed on the BCCI website over the next week.
Here are Team Pune's and Team Rajkot's picks:
| Team Pune | Team Rajkot |
|---|---|
| M.S. Dhoni (Rs. 12.5 crore) | Suresh Raina (Rs. 12.5 crore) |
| Ajinkya Rahane (Rs. 9.5 crore) | Ravindra Jadeja (Rs. 9.5 crore) |
| Ravichandran Ashwin (Rs. 7.5 crore) | Brendon McCullum (Rs. 7.5 crore) |
| Steven Smith (Rs. 5.5 crore) | James Faulkner (Rs. 5.5 crore) |
| Faf du Plessis (Rs. 4 crore) | Dwayne Bravo (Rs. 4 crore) |
What next for the Indian Premier League?
The first trading window for teams to transfer players opened on Tuesday. It will end on December 31. |
There will be two more trading windows before (Jan. 11 to 22) and after (Feb. 8 to 19) the player auction (Feb. 6) next year. |
The annual owners’ workshop will be held in Srinagar on Jan. 13 and 14. |
The ninth edition will run from April 9 to May 29. |
The Draft Procedure
50 players, 25 each from Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, will be available to be signed pre-auction for both the teams. |
Pune being the lowest bidder during the team bidding last week will have the first right to claim a player. |
Both teams, on an alternate basis, will be able to sign five players from the pool of 50. The five players of each team will be valued at Rs. 12.5 crore, Rs. 9.5 crore, Rs. 7.5 crore, Rs. 5.5 crore and Rs. 4 crore each |
Pune franchise is likely to get its hands on Mahendra Singh Dhoni while Rajkot owners are likely to prefer hometown boy Ravindra Jadeja. |
No team can sign more than four capped Indian players. |
Some of the top players available for the draft include Dhoni, Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Suresh Raina, Brendon McCullum, Faf du Plessis, Dwayne Bravo, Ajinkya Rahane, Shane Watson, Stuart Binny, James Faulkner and Sanju Samson. |
