The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 auction is only a few days away, with as many as 292 players to go under the hammer. While Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) have the biggest purse balance of all the 8 franchises, a directive by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has reportedly left the KL Rahul-led franchise in a fix.
The Kings XI, much like most of their previous seasons, are expected to be incredibly busy on the auction table with as many as 9 vacant spots in the team. The franchise bosses, however, would not be able to save much money from their purse balance of INR 53.2 crore as the IPL Governing Council has asked all franchises to spend at least 75% of the total quota in the auction.
KXIP have so far invested Rs. 31.8 crore in acquiring the services of 16 players. But to fill their squad, which needs a maximum of 9 more players, they would need to spend at least 75% of their total purse balance (Rs. 85 crore), which turns out to be INR 63.75 crore. In a case where a franchise fails to spend the minimum amount, the BCCI will get the deficit.
“All teams have to spend minimum amounts and we have kept the threshold levels at 75% of the 85 Cr player purse as the minimum amount that franchises will have to spend. This has been norm with IPL Auctions in past as well,” a top BCCI official to InsideSport.
KXIP have spent a total of Rs. 31.8 crore at the moment which means they would need to shell out at least Rs. 31.7 crore on February 18. The franchise bosses would’ve understandably been looking to reduce their costs, especially in the year of a pandemic, but it seems like their total spend would at least be doubled from what they have invested in the team so far.
KXIP current squad: KL Rahul, Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Nicholas Pooran, Mandeep Singh, Sarfaraz Khan, Deepak Hooda, Prabhsimran Singh, Mohammed Shami, Chris Jordan, Darshan Nalkande, Ravi Bishnoi, Murugan Ashwin, Arshdeep Singh, Harpreet Brar, Ishan Porel
