Catch highlights of the IPL 2020 player auction here. (Cricket News | Live streaming)

8:51 PM IST: And that's all from the IPL 2020 player auction.

8:50 PM IST: Isuru Udana goes to RCB for for 50 lakh. Kesrick Williams and R Vinay Kumar remain unsold.

8:48 PM IST: Lalit Yadav is sold to Delhi for 20 lakh. Tom Curran goes to RR for 1 Cr.

8:47 PM IST: Andrew Tye goes to RR for the base price of 12 Cr. Nikhil Naik goes to KKR for 20 lakh. Shahbaz Ahmad goes to RCB for 20 lakh.

8:46 PM IST: Dale Steyn, again. Third time lucky. RCB gets the legend for 2 Cr.

8:30 PM IST: Teams will nominate three players each.

8:28 PM IST: Mark Wood, at 50 lakh, is unsold again. And with that concludes the phase one of the accelerated auction.

8:27 PM IST: Marcus Stoinis, with base price of 1 Cr, goes to Delhi for 4.8 Cr after a fierce bidding war. One would wonder what were the franchises were doing earlier.

8:23 PM IST: Ben Cutting, for 75 lakh, unsold again. Colin Munro, at 1 Cr, unsold again.

8:22 PM IST: Tushar Deshpande goes to Delhi for 20 lakh. R Sai Kishore goes to CSK for 20 lakh. He is the top wicket-taker at Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

8:20 PM IST: KS Bharat, at 20, unsold again. Prabhsimran Singh, at 20, goes to KXIP for 55 lakh.

8:19 PM IST: Shahrukh Khan, at 20 lakh, is still unsold. Daniel Sams, at 20,  no bids.

8:18 PM IST: Rohan Kadam, at 20 lakh, is unsold. Pavan Deshpande, at 20 lakh, goes to RCB for the base price.

8:17 PM IST: No such luck for Dale Steyn. No interest in the second round too. Andrew Tye also faces the same fate.

8:16 PM IST: Mohit Sharma goes to Delhi for 50 lakh in the second run.

8:15 PM IST: Colin de Grandhomme, at 75 lakh. No bid again. Kusal Perera, for 50 lakh. No bidders again.

8:14 PM IST: Prince Balwant Rai Singh goes to MI for the base price of 20 lakh. Sanjay Yadav at 20, goes to SRH for the base price.

8:13 PM IST: Digvijay Deshmukh goes to MI for the base price of 20 lakh.

8:12 PM IST: Saurabh Dubey, at 20 lakh, is unsold. Anirudha Joshi goes to RR for 20 lakhs at base price.

8:11 PM IST: George Garton, at 20 lakh, is unsold. Vaibhav Arora, at 20, is also unsold.

8:10 PM IST: Nathan Ellis, at 20 lakh, is unsold. Kesrick Williams, at 50 lakh, is unsold.

8:09 PM IST: Sujit Nayak, at 20 lakh, is unsold. Abdul Samad, at 20, sold to SRH at base price.

8:08 PM IST: Yudhvir Charak is unsold. Tajinder Dhillon, at 20, sold to KXIP.

8:07 PM IST: James Pattinson, Liam Plunkett unsold.

8:05 PM IST: Kuldeep Sen, at 20 lakh, is unsold. Pravin Tambe, for 20 lakh, goes to KKR for 20 lakh. Remember him. He's now 48.

8:04 PM IST: Sumit Kumar, at 20 lakh, is unsold. Aryan Juyal, 18-year-old wicketkeeper, at 20 lakh, is also unsold.

8:03 PM IST: Oshane Thomas, at 50 lakh, goes to RR for the base price.

8:02 PM IST: Richardson goes to RCB for 3.6 Cr. no for 4 Cr.

7:59 PM IST: Kane Richardson, at 1.5 Cr, is next. RCB start the bid.

7:58 PM IST: Sean Abbott, at 75 lakh, is onsold. Matt Henry, at 50 lakh, is also unsold.

7:57 PM IST: KXIP take Jordan for 3 Cr. Isuru Udana, at 50 lakh, is unsold.

7:56 PM IST: Chris Jordan, at 75 lakh. Bidding is on.

7:55 PM IST: Tom Curran at 1 Cr is unsold. Jason Holder, at 75 lakh, is onsold.

7:54 PM IST: Tom Banton is sold to lone bidders KKR for 1 Cr. Fabian Allen, at 50 lakh, is sold to SRH at base price. Bargain?

7:52 PM IST: Joshua Philippe is sold to RCB for 20 lakh. 

7:51 PM IST: Shams Mulani, Shahbaz Ahamad and Nikhil Naik are unsold.

7:49 PM IST: Pravin Dubey is unsold. Chris Green sold to KKR for 20 lakh.

7:48 PM IST: Sandeep Bavanaka sold to SRH for 20 lakh.

7:47 PM IST: Ayush Badoni, unsold again.

7:46 PM IST: Accelerated auction starts.

7:35 PM IST: Here's a look at the sold and unsold players so far.

7:20 PM IST: #Breaking. K L Rahul named captain of Kings XI Punjab for the Indian Premier League's 2020 edition.

6:50 PM IST: Delhi Capitals get Shimron Hetmyer for 7:75 crore after a fierce bidding war. But some big names like Martin Guptill, Evin Lewis, Marcus Stoinis, Colin Munro went unsold. CSK, surprised everyone by going for Josh Hazlewood.

6:43 PM IST: Adam Milne, at 50 lakh, is unsold.  And with that we have finished the first session.

6:42 PM IST: Josh Hazlewood, at 2 Cr, on. CSK start the bid. And is sold. Good buy?

6:41 PM IST: Mustafizur Rahman, at 1 crore, is next. Unsold.

6:40 PM IST: Mark Wood, at 50, is unsold. Alzarri Joseph is next. Windies pacer is unsold.

6:39 PM IST: Time of pacers. Anrich Nortje, at 50 lakh, is the first of the capped spinners. Unsold. Barinder Sran, at 50, also unsold.

6:38 PM IST: James Neesham, at 50 lakh, is next. Sold to KXIP for the base price. And we are done with the all-rounders.

6:37 PM IST: Ben Cutting, at 75 lakh, is also unsold.

6:36 PM IST: Colin Munro, at 1 crore, is unsold. Next is Rishi Dhawan at 50 lakh. He is also unsold.

6:35 PM IST: Andile Phehlukwayo, at 50 lakh, is next. And the South African is unsold.

6:34 PM IST: Mitchell Marsh, at 2 crore, is next. SRH start the bidding. And is sold.

6:33 PM IST: Carlos Brathwaite, at 50 lakh, is the first. Unsold. Marcus Stoinis at 1 crore is next. The Aussie is also unsold.

6:32 PM IST: Up next, capped all-rounders.

6:31 PM IST. Big name. Martin Guptill at 1 crore. And nobody wants him. And the 11 set is done and dusted.

6:30 PM IST: Manoj Tiwary, at 50 lakh, is not sold. Colin Ingram at the same bracket, is also unsold.

6:28 PM IST: David Miller, at 75 lakh, is next. RR start the bidding at the base price. And is sold. Saurabh Tiwary, at 50 lakh, is next. And is sold to MI for the base price.

6:27 PM IST: Another Windies batsman, Evin Lewis at 1 Cr, on. And is not sold.

6:26 PM IST: After a slow start, the bidding gets intense. The Windies batsman goes to  Delhi for 7.75 Cr.

6:18 PM IST: Set 11 for the second round for International batsmen. Shimron Hetmyer at 50 lakh. RR open the bidding.

6:09 PM IST: Varun Chakravarthy is the costliest uncapped buy. A cool 4 crore paid by KKR. And India U-19 captain Priyam Garg goes to SRH for 1.9 Cr.

6:04: At 30 lakh, and no interests for Ahmad. No bid. Unsold. That's all for uncapped players. Break for 10 minutes.

6:03 PM IST: R Sai Kishore is unsold. Up next is 15-year-old Afghan Noor Ahmad.

6:02 PM IST: Ravi Bishnoi, at 20 lakh. Biding war between MI and KXIP. Sold to KXIP for 2 Cr.

5:59 PM IST: M Siddharth, at 20 lakh. Sold to KKR ar base price. Midhun Sudhesan is unsold.

5:58 PM IST: Time for uncapped spinners. K.C Cariappa, at 20 lakh, is unsold.

5:57 PM IST: Riley Meredith, at 40 lakh. Aussie youngster is unsold. And that's all for uncapped pacers.

5:56 PM IST: Ishan Porel, at 20 lakh. Opening bid from KXIP. And sold.

5:55 PM IST: Kartik Tyagi, at 20, to RR for 1.30 Cr.

5:53 PM IST: Kulwant Khejroliya, at 20, is unsold. Tushar Deshpande at 20, is also unsold.

5:51 PM IST: Time for uncapped fast bowlers or pacers. Akash Singh, at 20 lakh, sold to RR for the base price.

5:50 PM IST: Vishnu Vinod at 20 lakh is also unsold. And that's all for uncapped wicketkeepers.

5:49 PM IST: Prabhshimran Singh and Ankush Bains at 20 lakh each are unsold.

5:48 PM IST: Kedar Devdhar unsold at 20 lakh. KS Bharat at 20 lakh also unsold. Big surprise.

5:47 PM IST: Rawat goes to RR for 80 lakh.

5:46 PM IST: Uncapped wicketkeepers. Starts with Anuj Rawat at 20 lakh.

5:45 PM IST: Shahrukh Khan, at 20 lakh, is unsold. And with that ends the uncapped all-rounder's round.

5:44 PM IST: Pavan Deshpande, uncapped Indian at 20 lakh, is unsold.

5:43 PM IST: Daniels Sams, uncapped Aussie, is unsold at 20 lakh.

5:42 PM IST: RR gets Jaiswal for 2.4 Cr.

5:40 PM IST: Yashasvi Jaiswal, at 20 lakh, is next.

5:39 PM IST: KKR get Chakravarthy for 4 Cr.

5:37 PM IST: Varun Chakravarthy, with a base price of 30 lakh, is next.

5:36 PM IST: Set seven for uncapped all-rounders. Deepak Hooda, at 40 lakh, is first. Goes to KXIP for 60 lakh.

5:35 PM IST: It's between KXIP and SRH. And SHR get him for 1.9 Cr.

5:33 PM IST: Virat goes to SRH for 1.90 Cr. Priyam Garg, India U-19 captain, is next. His base price is 20 lakh.

5:31 PM IST: KKR gets Tripathi for 60 lakh. Virat Singh, with a base price of 20 lakh, is next.

5:29 PM IST: Rahul Tripathi, with a base price of 20 lakhs, is next. Bidding on.

5:28 PM IST: Rohan Kadam, Harpreet Bhatia are unsold.

5:27 PM IST: Manjot Kalra, with 20 lakhs, is next. The uncapped Indian is unsold.

5:26 PM IST: Up next, uncapped players.

5:20 PM IST: Round for capped wicket-keeper, fast bowler and spinner done. Sheldon Cottrell is the costliest buy with 8:50 Cr to DD.  Nathan Coulter-Nile is second. He goes to MI for 8 Cr. Piyush Chawla goes to CSK for 6.75 Cr. Alex Carey, the only wicketkeeper to be sold today. He goes to lone bidders, RCB for 50 lakhs.

5:17 PM IST: Zahir Khan, 21-year-old Afghan spinner at 50 lakh, is unsold. And we have another break for five minutes.

5:16 PM IST: Hayden Walsh, at 50 lakhs, is unsold.

5:15 PM IST: Adam Zampa, at 1.50 Cr, is also unsold.

5:14 PM IST: Ish Sodhi, at 75 lakh, is unsold.

5:13 PM IST: The Indian spinner is sold to CSK for 6.75 Cr.

5:11 PM IST: And time for spinners. Piyush Chawla, with 1 Cr base price, is next.

5:10 PM IST: KXIP beat DD to buy Cottrell for 8:50 CR. Salute, costliest bowler so far in this auction.

5:06 PM IST: Sheldon Cottrell, with a base price of 50 lakh, is next. Bidding war on.

5:04 PM IST: Tim Southee is unsold.

5:03 PM IST: And he goes to MI for 8 Cr. CSK were interested.

5:01 PM IST: Nathan Coulter-Nile, with a base price of 1 Cr, is next. And some bidding for the Aussie fast bowler.

5:00 PM IST: Andre Tye, with a base price of 1 Cr, is unsold.

4:59 PM IST: Unaadkat is sold to Rajasthan Royals for 3 Cr.

4:57 PM IST: Jaydev Unaadkat - With a base price of 1 Cr. Delhi open the bidding.

4:56 PM IST: Mohit Sharma - With a base price of 50 lakhs, is unsold. Up next is Dale Steyn, at a base price of 2 Cr. No takers for South Africa legend too.

And we are into set three, for bowlers.

4:54 PM IST: So thus Shai Hope.

4:53 PM IST: Kusal Perera too unsold.

4:52 PM IST: Heinrich Klaasen, Mushfiqur Rahim and Naman Ojha are unsold.

4:49 PM IST: And the Aussie wicketkeeper is sold to Delhi Capitals for 2.4 Cr.

4:46 PM IST: Alex Carey - With a base price of 50 lakhs. RCB start the bidding.

4:45 PM IST: Ready for the second round, for the wicketkeepers.

4:35 PM IST: Pat Cummins shattered the record for the most expensive foreign buy ever. KKR doled out INR 15.50 crore for the Aussie pacer. DC and RCB were engaged in an intense bidding war but KKR joined the fray late and outbid the two franchises. Cummins broke the record held by Ben Stokes, who was bought by Rising Pune Supergiant for Rs 14.5 crore in the 2017 auction.

Another Aussie, all-rounder Glenn Maxwell went to KXIP for Rs 10.75 crore. Another big buy was South African Chris Morris, who was sold for Rs 10 crore to RCB. England's World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan made big money too, going to KKR for Rs 5.25 crore. Australia's limited-overs captain Aaron Finch went for Rs 4.4 crore to RCB. Chris Lynn was bought for his base price of Rs 2 crore by defending champions MI.

Robin Uthappa was bagged by RR for Rs 3 crore, but the Indian Test specialist duo of Cheteshwar Pujara and Hanuma Vihara, and all-rounder Stuart Binny went unsold.

4:22 PM IST: Stuart Binny unsold. And we have a break for 15 minutes.

4:20 PM IST: Morris sold to RCB for 10 Cr.

4:19 PM IST: Chris Morris - With a base price of 1.50 crore. Bidding on. 

4: 17 PM IST: Sam Curran -  With a base price for 1 crore, goes to CSK for 5.5 crore.

4:14 PM IST: KKR joins the fray, and get their man for 15.5 Cr.

4:12 PM IST: Pat Cummins - With a base price of 2 Cr. And we have another war. Already breached 12 Cr mark.

4:11 PM IST: Gavel almost lands than KKR joins the fray, at 1500 Lakhs.

4:09 PM IST: Delhi made it 1400 lakhs, then RCB increased it to 1425 lakhs.

4:08 PM IST: Pat Cummins - With a base price of 2 Cr. And we have another war. Already breached 12 Cr mark.

4:06 PM IST: Colin de Grandhomme unsold. Shocker! He should be back.

4:04 PM IST: Yusuf Pathan is unsold. His base price is 1 Cr.

4:02 PM IST: Chris Woakes - Quick one. Sold to Delhi Capitals for 1.5 Cr.

4:00 PM IST: Anil Kumble is bullish. And he gets Glenn Maxwell for Kings XI Punjab, at 10.75 Cr. Holly smokes.

3:59 PM IST: And Delhi has breached the 1000 lakh, for Mr. Maxwell. He must be having a wild dream. Wait, KXIP are keeping the bidding war alive. Just made 1075 lakh. 

3:55 PM IST: Glenn Maxwell - With a base price of 2 crore. Massive bidding war for the Aussie all-rounder. Every franchise is bidding for him. Delhi go 750 lakh. And it's only warming up.

And with that the set 1 is done. Next all-rounders.

3:51 PM IST: Aaron Finch - With a base price of 1 crore is doing good business. Fierce bidding war between RCB and KKR. RCB get the Aussie T20 captain for 4.4 crores. Massive one.

3:45 PM IST: Jason Roy - Just one bid and sold to Delhi for 1.5 crores.

3:44 PM IST: No takers for India Test batsman Hanuma Vihari and Hanuma Vihari.

3:42 PM IST: Robin Uthappa - with a base price of 1.5 crore, goes to Rajasthan Royals for 3 crore. Kings XI offered 2.6 crore for the wicket-keeper batsman.

3:40 PM IST: Eoin Morgan  - He is the second player, and he's generating lots of interests. Delhi Capitals offered 4.8 crore, but KKR beat them with a 5.25 crore offer. 

3:39 PM IST: Chris Lynn - Aussie goes to Mumbai Indians. They are the lone bidders and get him. Base price: INR 2 crore and sold to Mumbai Indians for 2 crore.

3:38: PM IST: Patel helps Edmeades with the bag. Chris Lynn is the first player to go under the hammer.

3:36 PM IST: Hugh Edmeades will conduct the auction.

3:32 PM IST: It's on. Brijesh Patel, IPL chairman, welcomes everyone.

3:15 PM IST: First set of players - Aaron Finch, Chris Lynn, Eoin Morgan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Jason Roy, Robin Uthappa and Hanuma Vihari.

3:00 PM IST: Here's the order of business

First - Capped batsman and all-rounder (set 1-2)
Second - Capped wicket-keeper, fast bowler and spinner (set 3-5)
Third - Uncapped batsman, all-rounder, 'keeper, fast-bowler and spinner (set 6-10)
Fourth - Capped batsman, all-rounder and fast bowlers (set 11-13)
Fifth - Accelerated auctions 1, 2, 3

3:00 PM IST: Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting has revealed their plans. "We'll look at two batters, potentially an all rounder and two fast bowlers. We've got a strong contingent of Indian players already so our main goal is to get the best players available," the Aussie legend tweeted.

2:57 PM IST: Meanwhile, Navdeep Saini has replaced Deepak Chahar in India's ODI squad for the West Indies series. Read details HERE.

2:54 PM IST:  Here are how the teams look like ahead of the auction:

CSK: MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Faf du Plessis, Ambati Rayudu, M Vijay, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shane Watson, Dwayne Bravo, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mitchell Santner, Monu Kumar, N Jagadeesan, Harbhajan Singh, Karn Sharma, Imran Tahir, Deepak Chahar, KM Asif.

Player slots left: Five (three domestic, two overseas)
Purse remaining: Rs 14.60 crore

DD: Shreyas Iyer, Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Rishabh Pant, Ishant Sharma, Amit Mishra, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Lamichhane, Kagiso Rabada, Keemo Paul, Axar Patel, Harshal Patel, R Ashwin, Ajinkya Rahane.

Player slots left: 11 (six domestic, five overseas)
Purse remaining: Rs 27.85 crore

KKIP: KL Rahul, Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Karun Nair, Sarfaraz Khan, Nicholas Pooran, Mandeep Singh, K Gowtham, Mohammed Shami, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Arshdeep Singh, Hardus Viljoen, M Ashwin, J Suchith, Harpreet Brar, and Darshan Nalkande.

Player slots left: Nine (five domestic, four overseas)
Purse remaining: Rs 42.70 crore

KKR: Dinesh Karthik, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Kuldeep Yadav, Shubman Gill, Lockie Ferguson, Nitish Rana, Sandeep Warrier, Harry Gurney, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi, Siddhesh Lad.

Player slots left: 11 (seven domestic, four overseas)
Purse remaining: Rs 35.65 crore

MI: Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Kieran Pollard, Quinton de Kock, Mitchell McClenaghan, Jasprit Bumrah, Lasith Malinga, Krunal Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, Anmolpreet Singh, Trent Boult, Rahul Chahar, Ishan Kishan, Anukul Roy, Dhawal Kulkarni, Aditya Tare, Sherfane Rutherford, Jayant Yadav.

Player slots left: Seven (five domestic, two overseas)
Purse remaining: Rs 13.05 crore

RCB: AB de Villiers, Devdutt Padikkal, Gurkeerat Singh, Moeen Ali, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Parthiv Patel, Pawan Negi, Shivam Dube, Umesh Yadav, Virat Kohli, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal

Player slots left: 12 (six domestic, six overseas)
Purse remaining: Rs 27.90 crore

RR: Steve Smith (captain), Sanju Samson, Jofra Archer, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Riyan Parag, Shashank Singh, Shreyas Gopal, Mahipal Lomror, Varun Aaron, Manan Vohra, Mayank Markande, Rahul Tewatia, Ankit Rajpoot.
Player slots left: 11 (Seven domestic, four overseas)
Purse remaining: Rs 28.90 crore

SRH: Kane Williamson, David Warner, Manish Pandey, Vijay Shankar, Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, Abhishek Sharma, Jonny Bairstow, Wriddhiman Saha, Shreevats Goswami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Sandeep Sharma, Siddarth Kaul, Shahbaz Nadeem, Billy Stanlake, Basil Thampi, T Natarajan.

Player slots left: Seven (five domestic, two overseas)
Purse remaining: Rs 17 crore

2:45 PM IST: Six new players added to the auction list -- Vinay Kumar, Ashoke Dinda, Matthew Wade, Robin Bist, Sanjay Yadav, and Jake Weatherald -- making it a total of 338.

2:40 PM IST: Stage set for the player auction for the IPL 2020. Bidding starts at 3:30 PM IST. And here are the key talking points.

Focus is on Virat Kohli's Royal Challengers Bangalore, but former champions Chennai Super Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders are looking for back-ups and top-order batsmen. Rajasthan Royals, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Delhi Capitals will look for big buys.

Preview

As many as 332 cricketers (186 Indian, 146 overseas players) will go under the hammer at the auction at a plush hotel at Kolkata with Australia's all-rounder Glenn Maxwell and veteran South African fast bowler Dale Steyn among those opting for the highest base price of Rs 2 crore. However, like previous editions, some lesser-known youngsters could walk away with big deals. IPL 2020 assumes added significance as it also coincides with the T20 World Cup year.

Kings XI Punjab have the maximum money to spend (Rs 42.70 crore) and will look to rope in a captain after India's premier Test off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was traded to Delhi Capitals. KXIP might go all out for England's World Cup-winning skipper Eoin Morgan or Australia's limited-overs captain Aaron Finch.

Kings XI also have a new head coach in Anil Kumble and the former India captain is likely to try and shore up their bowling arsenal despite having the likes of Mohammed Shami, Mujeeb ur Rahman and M Ashwin.

Heavyweights Chennai Super Kings and defending champions Mumbai Indians have more or less a set core of players retained and will look to buy back-up options in case of injuries. Both teams do not have a lot of money left in their purse and would look to spend smartly.

India captain Virat Kohli's Royal Challengers Bangalore will have their eyes on overseas players although they don't have too much purse remaining (Rs 27.90 crore) to play with. RCB, who endured a dismal season last time, have a new coaching staff and scouting system in place, and therefore it remains to be seen how they go about on Thursday.

Coming to Kolkata Knight Riders who have released big names like Chris Lynn, Robin Uthappa, and Piyush Chawla the onus would be to buy a dashing opener to replace the explosive Lynn and in terms of the purse, they have the second-highest remaining among the teams (Rs 35.65 crore). The likes of England's Jason Roy and Alex Carey could be options for KKR who also need a domestic spinner to replace the seasoned Chawla.

Like KKR, Delhi Capitals will also be on the lookout for good foreign buys having a strong core Indian contingent. Capitals don't have a big purse as KKR with Rs 27.85 crore remaining, so they might look to snaffle a smart catch at a low price who can come good.

Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad will have to add to their domestic roster and within their purse, where Royals (Rs 28.90 crore) have an edge over Sunrisers (Rs 17 crore), the two teams will have to fish for efficient recruits and that can get tricky in a small auction.

The gala auction on Thursday will also see some of the lesser-known Indian players hog the limelight like it has been the case in previous editions.

Among those hopefuls are seventeen-year-old Yashasvi Jaiswal, the youngest batsman ever to script a double ton in List A cricket, tall left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore and Abhimanyu Easwaran.

The IPL would also provide a platform for players to test their skills against the best ahead of the T20 World Cup in October next year. Kohli, for one, could look to bat at No. 3 for RCB for continuity meaning the team has to look for an overseas opener during the auction.

All franchises will also be looking to rope in the services of West Indies big-hitter Shimron Hetmyer whose base price of Rs 50 lakh is another bonus. Hetmyer, 22, gave a perfect audition in the first ODI against India with a career-best 139. Another player who might go big is Australia's premier pacer Pat Cummins owing to his exploits across formats.

This is the first time the IPL auction is taking place in Kolkata and the buzz surrounding it is unmistakable at the home of KKR.

Varun Chakravarthy