Mumbai: India's cricket experts are fine-tuning software programs and crunching numbers ahead of a landmark auction today to secure the world's best players in the new Twenty20 league.
Team owners - featuring several billionaires and two Bollywood movie stars - are busy formulating strategies about how to disburse the $5 million (Dh19 million) each bidder has to spend on players during the auction that will kick-start the Indian Premier League.
"We're using a software program that will show us the practical balance of player versus a cost matrix," said Vijay Vancheswar of GMR, owners of the Delhi team.
Scheduled for April 18-June 1, the IPL will feature eight franchises.
"Bidders cannot be in touch with anyone from outside the room during the auction," said a senior IPL official.
"There is a recess to strategise and regroup at the end of every segment of 12 players sold. There will be official updates at the end of every segment about which players have been sold to whom."
The auction is expected to continue late into the night at a hotel in Mumbai and cell phones will be banned.
Rahul Dravid may attend the auction along with Bangalore owner Vijay Mallya, the team's CEO Charu Sharma said.
"We certainly hope Rahul will make it. He's spared a lot of time for the team and can give us a sense of things inside," Sharma said. "Dr. Mallya loves auctions and he has plenty of experience."
Strike a balance
The most sought-after players are expected to be India's Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, Munaf Patel and Ishant Sharma, Australians Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting and Brett Lee, and South Africans Jacques Kallis and Justin Kemp.
"They are the usual suspects, the global stars. But you have to have a mix and strike some kind of balance between the stars and the younger hopefuls," Sharma said. "We need a healthy balance of skill sets."
Each franchise can sign up to eight non-Indian players for its 16-man roster, but only four foreign players can feature in a starting line-up in the competition. Each XI must also contain four under the age of 22.
First on auction will be what the IPL has termed the "marquee players".
Each franchises will be allotted a computer that will detail the available balance, while a screen will throw up the names that have been won by each squad.
