Bengaluru to host 2016 IPL players' auction on February 6

The 2016 Indian Premier League (IPL) players' auction will take place on February 6 in Bengaluru with as many as 351 cricketers to go under the hammer.

There are 230 Indians and 121 overseas players for the franchises to choose from. There are eight marquee players, including two Indians. The auction will also be the first for the two new teams - Rising Pune Supergiants and the so far unnamed team Rajkot.

There will be eight marquee players in the auction – these players will be under the hammer at the start of the auction. The marquee players are Yuvraj Singh, Ishant Sharma, Shane Watson, Aaron Finch, Dale Steyn, Dwayne Smith, Martin Guptill and Kevin Pietersen.

While Yuvraj, Ishant, Watson and Pietersen have a base price of 2 cr., bidding for Steyn will start at 1.5 cr. Finch’s base price is 1 cr., while Guptill and Smith’s base price is 0.5 cr.

"The IPL 2016 players' auction will start the countdown to the ninth season of one of the most popular sporting events in the world. The franchises have returned to the drawing board, reworked plans and devised new strategies, over the last few months. They will have the opportunity to bid for some of the biggest names in the game," IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla said.

The breakdown of the 351 cricketers on the auction list is: 130 capped players - India 26, Australia 29, Bangladesh 5, England 7, New Zealand 9, South Africa 18, Sri Lanka 16, West Indies 20.

Two associate players - Canada and Ireland and 219 uncapped players - India 204, Australia 9, New Zealand 1, South Africa 2, West Indies 3.

In terms of available spots, if every franchise were to have the maximum of 27 players in their squad, 116 players will be taken in the auction, of which up to 36 may be overseas players.