With the Indian Premier league (IPl) players' draft scheduled for December 15, India's star off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on Saturday said he is looking forward to a new challenge in the cash-rich league, adding that it doesn't matter to him which franchise picks him.
Sanjeev Goenka's 'New Rising' won the bid for the Pune franchisee while Intex won for Rajkot after a reverse bidding process held in New Delhi on December 8.
Goenka's company will shell out `16 crores while Intex will pay `10 crores to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
"In three days time, Pune or Rajkot will be my new summer destination. looking forward to a new beginning and more challenges," Ashwin tweeted.
"If I don't make it to both of these teams, I will go into the auction. Does not matter who picks me, all I need is new challenges. No stagnating," the Chennai-born spinner said.
Till the 2015 IPl season, Ashwin represented Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and played under the leadership of Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
But after the suspension of IPl franchises CSK and Rajasthan Royals (RR) in July this year from the league for two years by the Supreme Court-appointed Justice lodha Committee in the spot fixing and betting scandal that rocked the Twenty20 tournament in 2013, two new teams were introduced for two years by the country's cricket board.
Pune will be given the choice to pick the players first because they were the lowest bidders (negative bids) to buy the new team for two years. CSK and RR will be allowed back in the league after serving their suspension. The ninth edition of the IPl is scheduled from April 9 to May 29 next year.
The IPl Players' draft to allow two new franchises based in Pune and Rajkot pick 10 players of their choice will be held at the Mumbai Cricket Association's clubhouse in the Bandra-Kurla Complex on December 15."The draft pick is to be held at the BKC clubhouse starting at 12:15 pm on the 15th," a top BCCI source said.
Sanjeev Goenka's New Rising won the bid for the Pune franchisee while Intex won for Rajkot after a reverse bidding process held in Delhi on December 8.
Goenka's company will shell out `16 crores while Intex will pay Rs 10 crores to the BCCI.
Pune will be given the choice to pick the players first because they were the lowest bidders (negative bids) to buy the new team for two years.
The bidding process for the two new franchises was necessitated by the suspension of Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals for the involvement of some of their officials and co-owners in the 2013 IPl spot-fixing scandal, which was probed by the Supreme Court-appointed Justice (retd) R M lodha committee.
However, both the CSK and RR will be allowed back in the league after serving out their suspension.
The cricketers from the two suspended franchises will be divided into two groups of capped and uncapped and the top names will be sold through the draft system. The two new teams will have a minimum of Rs 40 crore and a maximum of `66 crore to buy players.
Among the players expected to feature in the draft, it would be interesting to see whether India's limited overs captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni still commands the sort of attraction that he had when CSK grabbed him with a million-dollar bid in the first-ever players' auction held eight years ago. Dhoni, who led CSK for eight seasons, is expected to be in the first list of the draft.
It would also be interesting to note whether Rajkot guns for its home player Ravindra Jadeja whose stocks have risen of late after he made his comeback into the Indian squad in the Test series against South Africa.
Other leading players who could be in the draft are CSK's Suresh Raina, Ravichandran Ashwin, Dwayne Bravo and Brendon McCullum and RR's Ajinkya Rahane, Steve Smith and Shane Watson.
The franchises, which choose the first two players in the draft — in which one player each will be put up to be chosen alternately — will have to shell out `12.5 crore.
As per the tender, the first capped player would be paid 12.5 crore while the remaining four capped players are to get `9.5 crore, `7.5 crore, `5.5 crore, and Rs 4 crore respectively. Uncapped players can be picked for a stipulated fee of `4 crore.
The main player auction for unpicked players and others will be held on February 6 in Bengaluru. The ninth edition of the IPl is scheduled from April 9 to May 29 next year.