Drawing significant attention, the battle for building a potent team for the upcoming IPL season is all set to hit the floor as the eight teams will wage a clash in the auctioning of players on Thursday in Chennai.  The player auction will begin at 3 pm amid large-scale speculations and anticipations from the fans on who will dominate the auction by roping in key powers with the remaining purse value. 

As the event of the auction goes as per schedule, it has been expected that the current season will kickstart in April as the summer treat. Remaining intact, the IPL will go with the eight teams for the upcoming season while the 15th edition of the wealthiest cricket league will see the entry of two new teams, bringing the total to ten in 2022. The eight teams have released some players from their camps to go under the hammer of the auction this time. 

In what would become one of the notable auctions in IPL history, a total of 291 players will be listed on the auction table including the released players and newbies who are on the verge of making their IPL Debut. Of these 291 players, 164 players belong to India, 124 are from overseas while three will be the associate players in the auction. All eight teams have a reserve fund in their purse to stir a battle in the auction in their race to win in roping the top players. 

In total, there are 61 slots that need to be filled, and Royal Challengers Bangalore has the maximum slots with eleven vacancies to fill with Rs 35.4 crore remaining in its purse. Sunrisers Hyderabad has only three slots available with Rs 10.75 crore in its purse. Punjab Kings stands wealthy at a current state with Rs 53.20 crore in its account and it has to fill nine slots with this value.  

Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals, the top two teams that shined last year, have 15.35 crore and 13.40 crore in their kitties respectively and both the teams have to fill seven and eight slots in their teams. As both the teams are hoping to sail through the momentum that was built last year. Mumbai Indians were champions last year while Delhi ended the tournament by finishing second. As both the teams have a convincible fund, they will eye to invest in the young players. 

The auction session will be taking place in Chennai at around 3 pm on Thursday and the table of Chennai Super Kings will be surfaced with more expectations on how Dhoni's fleet will be built for the upcoming season as the Super Kings had shown a flawed performance in the last season after they failed to qualify for the playoffs for the first time in the history. 

Dhoni's team is under the obligation to revive back stronger and to emerge victorious and Chennai Super Kings have 19.90 crore in their purse and the team has to fill six slots. According to reports, in the bid to fill six vacancies, it has been expected that Dhoni will pick some big hitters to help the team towards forming a strong batting line-up along with Suresh Raina and South Africa's Faf du Plessis. It must be noted that Shane Watson had already announced his retirement from all forms of cricket and the Men in Yellow will miss him. 

For the first time in IPL, Sachin Tendulkar's son Arjun Tendulkar will be making his debut in the premier league during the upcoming season. He has a base price of Rs 20 lakh and it has been expected that Arjun Tendulkar,  who is emerging as an all-rounder, will be bought by Mumbai Indians. While young Tendulkar goes for the auction with the base price of Rs 20 lakh,  42-year-old Nayan Doshi,  son of former Indian cricketer Dilip Joshi, will be the oldest under the hammer of auction. 

According to reports, Kings XI Punjab has changed the name as Punjab Kings and the team will also change the logo. The teams have submitted the list of retained and released players on January 31 and along with that, a total of 1114 players had sent their names for the IPL 2021 auction registration. On February 11, the BCCI released the list of players who were finalized for the auction and the list had included 292 players. However, English cricketer Mark Wood has pulled out from the auction, which had brought the total number of players for auction to 291. The auction session is expected to stir a clash between the eight teams in picking up their favorite players and make the investment worth.