How are the players paired with teams?
The first player auction, on February 20 2008, had franchises bid for a maximum of eight international players from a pool of 89. Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag were given ‘icon’ status by the BCCI – they represented the city in which they are based. A similar, truncated process was followed in 2009, with 17 players picked. Kieron Pollard, Kemar Roach and Shane Bond were the big picks in the third auction.
