How to Run a Cricket Player Auction (IPL-Style)

A cricket player auction is the best night of any local league. To run one, put every player into a category with a base price, give each team the same play purse, agree squad rules in advance, and then let one auctioneer sell players one at a time with fixed bid increments. Done well, it takes about two hours for six teams and makes the teams far more balanced than captains picking their mates.

Tip: The purse is a play budget, not money. Nobody pays for a player and nobody gets paid. Points in, players out. Keep it that way and the auction stays fun for everyone.

Step 1: Build the player pool

Start with a registration list a week before auction night. For each player, collect name, phone number, role (batter, bowler, all-rounder, wicket-keeper) and availability for the season. A player who can only make half the matches should be marked, because teams will bid differently on them.

Then split the pool into categories. Four is enough for most leagues:

Let two or three senior players do the categorising together, so no single organiser takes the blame. Aim for roughly the same number of A-category players as there are teams, so every side can land at least one.

Step 2: Set purse sizes

Every team gets the same purse. A useful rule of thumb: the purse should be about three times the total base price of the squad a team needs to fill. For a 12-player squad with an average base price of 250, that is around 3,000 in base prices, so a purse of 9,000 to 10,000 points gives room for proper bidding wars without letting one team buy every good player.

Write the purse on a whiteboard or, better, show it on screen and update it after every sale. A team that cannot see its remaining purse will overspend in the first twenty minutes and spend the rest of the night buying 100-point players.

Step 3: Agree squad rules before anyone bids

Squad rules are where auctions go wrong, so publish them in the group chat before the night. A sensible set:

• Squad size: minimum 11, maximum 14 players.
• Reserve rule: a team must always keep enough purse to fill its minimum squad at base price. If a team has 3,000 points left and needs 6 more players, its maximum bid is 3,000 minus 5 × 100.
• Captains: each team's captain is pre-assigned and not auctioned, or is bought at a fixed price agreed beforehand.
• Icon players or retentions: in a second season, let each team retain up to two players from last year at a fixed cost (for example 1,500 and 1,000 points), deducted from the purse before the auction starts.
• Role minimums: at least one wicket-keeper and four recognised bowlers per squad, so no team turns up with eleven batters.
• Unavailability: a player who drops out after the auction is replaced from the unsold list, at base price, by the organisers.

Step 4: Fix the bid increments

Fixed increments stop the "551, 552" nonsense and keep the room moving. Tie them to the current bid:

Teams raise a paddle (or a phone with the team name on it) to bid the next increment. Jump bids are allowed only if your league wants a bit of drama; say so in advance either way.

Step 5: Run the order of play

A simple order that works:

1. Retentions and captains announced, purses adjusted.
2. Category A players, in random order (draw chits).
3. Category B, then C, then D.
4. A short break so teams can check their squads and purses.
5. The accelerated round: unsold players, plus anyone a team specifically asks to bring back.

Random order matters. If the best player comes up first, everyone spends; if he comes up last, one team with a fat purse gets him cheap. Chits drawn from a bowl in front of everyone are fair and look fair.

The auctioneer's script

Pick someone loud, quick and neutral. The auctioneer does not own a team. Use the same lines every time so nobody can claim they missed a call:

1. "Next up, name, role, Category B. Base price 300."
2. "300 with Team Sharks. 350 anywhere? 350 with Strikers."
3. When bidding slows: "400 with Strikers. Going once… going twice…"
4. "Sold to Strikers for 400!" Update the purse board straight away.
5. If nobody bids at base price: "Unsold. Moving on."

Allow a team about ten seconds to respond after "going twice". If two teams raise at once, the auctioneer decides who was first, and that decision is final.

Unsold players

Unsold players go to the accelerated round, where bidding opens at a reduced base (often half, or the Category D price). If someone is still unsold at the end, either allot them by draw to teams below the maximum squad size, at the lowest base price, or keep them as the season's replacement pool. Never leave someone off a team without telling them; that is how a league loses players for next year.

Running it on a projector

The room needs one shared screen showing the player on the block, the current bid, which team holds it, and every team's remaining purse. Paper works, but expect arguments over arithmetic.

In MyGully11, the organiser puts players on the block, takes bids from each team's purse and marks the sale, and a big-screen link shows every bid and every sale on a projector or TV as it happens. Purses update themselves, and the sold squads carry straight into the tournament for fixtures, scoring and fantasy. The cricket player auction app page shows how it fits together.

Keeping it fun

• Do it in person if you can. A community hall, a terrace, the office cafeteria. Samosas are mandatory.
• Give teams names and logos first. People bid harder for "Andheri Avengers" than for "Team 3".
• Let the room cheer. A 100-point player who goes for 1,200 after a bidding war is the story of the season.
• Keep the pace up. Under two minutes per player. Six teams and 72 players should be done in about two hours.
• Publish squads the same night. Post final squads and remaining purses in the group before people go home.

Once squads are set, the rest of the season follows: see how to organise a gully cricket tournament and pick a structure from our guide to cricket tournament formats. If you are running it for a workplace, the corporate cricket league page covers department teams and Slack updates.

Frequently asked questions