Indian Premier League Chairman Chirayu Amin has said the first stage of the process for confirming the playing squads for 2011 has gone off well and that it is heartening to see the majority of the founding franchises have chosen to retain players.
According to a BCCI announcement, Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings, which have retained four players, are each left with $4.5m to spend either at the player auction or to buy Ranji Trophy players outside the auction.
Rajasthan Royals will have $5.9m available, pending further orders from the Bombay High Court.
Delhi Daredevils and Royal Challengers Bangalore will each have a balance of $7.2m available.
The remaining franchises have the full $9m. The Kochi and Pune franchises will have the option of signing up to four overseas players who have not played in the previous three IPL tournaments.
Once this process is completed the BCCI will run the player auction that will feature the remaining top Indian and overseas players.
The 12 cricketers retained are: M.S. Dhoni, M. Vijay, Suresh Raina and Albie Morkel (Chennai Super Kings), Virat Kohli (Royal Challengers Bangalore), Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh, Lasith Malinga and Kieron Pollard (Mumbai Indians), Virender Sehwag (Delhi Daredevils), Shane Warne and Shane Watson (Rajasthan Royals). t
