Icon players Icon player was a status given to five players of the
Indian Premier League to ensure that top drawer players will represent their respective home city sides, which was important for the league to increase fan support and interest among the locals. The icon players received 15% percent more money than the highest paid player of the team bought in the auction. Initially four icon players were designated but later on the request of
Delhi Daredevils,
Virender Sehwag's name was added to the list.
Deccan Chargers also asked for Icon Player status to be given to
VVS Laxman, but he declined the offer in order to allow the franchise to spend more money on other players and still not breach the
US$5 million salary cap.
Auction-1 The first auction was held on 20 February 2008. The total salary cap was set at 5 million with a minimum of 3.3 million to be spend. Players were divided into categories with Category-A, B, C and D representing prominent players. Remaining wicket-keepers, all-rounders, batsmen and bowlers were kept in category-E, F, G and H, respectively. 77 players signed up for auction including 48 foreign players. 75 players were auctioned with
Mohammed Yousuf and
Ashwell Prince remaining unsold.
MS Dhoni was the costliest player at 1.5 million.
Andrew Symonds was the most costly foreign player. The unsold players were paid their base price by the BCCI. Jaipur was fined for not reaching the minimum spending of 3 million. :
REC: Players unsold originally but were brought back.
Auction-2 The second IPL auction for foreign players took place in Mumbai on 11 March 2008. 26 players including unsold players from auction-1 signed up for the auction. The base price was set at 50,000. 14 players were sold in the auction.
James Hopes was the costliest player at 300,000.
Dimitri Mascarenhas became the first English player to sign up for IPL.
Mohammed Yousuf again remained unsold in 2nd auction due to continuing dispute with
Indian Cricket League. IPL allowed teams to cross 8 foreign players limit. Players sold lower than their signed up price were paid the remaining amount by IPL.
Under-19 Draft Along with 2nd Auction, the 15 players from winners of
2008 Under-19 Cricket World Cup along with
Viraj Kadbe were picked upon
draft system based upon US
National Football League. The franchises were randomly allotted numbers from 1 to 8. The franchise assigned the number 1 got the choice of picking player first and then the second franchise and so on. After eight players were picked, the order of the bidding reversed. Delhi was the first team and chose
Pradeep Sangwan.
Deccan Chargers passed on both of their drafts.
Delhi Daredevils also picked only one of the draft while
Chennai Super Kings picked three players. The players with Ranji experience were paid 50,000 and remaining 30,000. ==Player's Signing==