Standard Cricket Auction Rules and Bidding Slabs

Running an IPL-style sports draft for box leagues or local clubs is highly competitive. Making sure all team managers align on bidding increments and budget caps before draft day is essential for a clean, fair event.

1. The Roster Wallet (Purse)

Each team receives a fixed virtual wallet (e.g. ₹5,00,000). Every time a team manager bids on a player and the player is marked sold, the final price is deducted from their remaining purse balance. Managers cannot bid higher than their remaining budget.

2. Minimum and Maximum Squad Limits

To ensure teams do not end up with too few or too many players, establish squad size limits. For instance, each team must buy a minimum of 12 players and a maximum of 15 players.

3. Incremental Bidding Slabs

Increment slabs prevent owners from slowing down the bidding by raising by tiny amounts. Standard slab configurations:

• ₹10,000 - ₹50,000: Minimum rise of ₹1,000.
• ₹50,000 - ₹1,00,000: Minimum rise of ₹2,000.
• ₹1,00,000 and above: Minimum rise of ₹5,000.

Once a bid reaches a slab, all subsequent bids must respect the new minimum increment rules.

4. The Marquee Player Draw

Start the draft with high excitement by putting the "Marquee Players" (your top-tier bowlers and batsmen) on the block first. This sets the pricing tone and establishes the market value of budgets early in the session.

5. Unsold Player Reruns

If a player receives zero bids at their base price, they are marked "Unsold." At the end of the primary rounds, organizers can hold a secondary round where unsold players are put back on the block at half-price or custom requests.

Simplify Roster Audits

Doing all of this on a whiteboard requires a team of volunteers running manual audits. An online platform like PlayBid enforces all budget limits, slab rules, and roster counts in real-time, letting you focus entirely on hosting the show.