West Indies batter Rovman Powell was bought by Rajasthan Royals for ₹7 crore in the Indian Premier League (IPL) mega auction on Tuesday. A bidding war for Powell took place between Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals. 300 players have been lined up to go under the hammer. Originally, over 1100 players had submitted their names for the auction, out of which the teams shortlisted 333. And last evening due to a withdrawal, the final count now stands at 332.
Gujarat Titans have the maximum money, of any team, left in their purse: INR 38.15 crore (USD 4.6 million approx.) and have to fill eight slots (two overseas). Lucknow Super Giants have the smallest available purse: INR 13.15 crore (USD 1.58 million approx.) with which to fill six slots (two overseas). The franchises have a combined remaining purse of INR 262.95 crore (USD 31.58 million approx.) The English trio of Ben Stokes, Joe Root and Jofra Archer have all withdrawn from the IPL this year to manage their workloads. There is no Kedar Jadhav in the pruned list, while Litton Das and Shakib Al Hasan's names are also missing. No, the retention/release deadline is over. However, according to the IPL's rules, the player trading window starts a month after a season ends, and stays open up to a week before the auction date, and then continues up until a month before the start of the next season. Trading will be possible again from December 20, the day after the auction, for up to a month before the 2024 season begins.
