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The two teams will be making a comeback to the mega tournament after being banned for two years due to spot-fixing, which took place in 2013. For Chennai Super Kings, MS Dhoni’s return will be the biggest positive, with the Jharkhand cricketer also set to resume captaincy. This will arguably be the biggest IPL auction since the start of the tournament in 2018, with a lot of big names set to feature in the two-day event. Ahead of the annual tournament’s next edition, here is everything you need to know about the auction. Another big relief for the teams is the increase of the salary cap, with the price being increased to Rs 80 crore from the previous rate of Rs 66 crore. Meanwhile, the franchises have the option to retain three players before the auction. However, by doing so, a total of Rs 33 crore will be deducted from the purse- Rs 15 crore for first player, Rs 11 crore for second player and Rs 7 crore for third player. If a team, however, decides to retain an uncappe...

Current Australia skipper Steve Smith was Rajasthan Royals’ only pick while his deputy David Warner remains with Sunrisers Hyderabad along with pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar. “It was a great opportunity to retain some players. We want to pick impact players who can take team forward. Warner and Bhuvaneshwar are impact players and impact is the right word for SRH,” team mentor VVS Laxman said after the retention process got over. One of the notable names not to be retained is long-time Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Gautam Gambhir, who is now back in the auction pool with West Indians Sunil Narine and Andre Russell being the Shah Rukh Khan co-owned franchise’s two picks. CSK have retained their powerhouse performers Ravindra Jadeja and Suresh Raina as their second and third choice respectively.