India's MS Dhoni signs for new Pune franchise in IPL auction

Dec 16, 2015, 00:07
India's MS Dhoni signs for new Pune franchise in IPL auction

With the Chennai Super Kings and the Rajasthan Royals suspended from the IPL for the next two seasons, two new teams, Rajkot and Pune joined in the fray to play in the 2016 and 2017 season.

"Both the teams (who have each spent Rs 39 crore today) are now left with Rs 27 crore each from the total purse to form the rest of the team", he added.

Team Pune: MS Dhoni, Ajinkya Rahane, Steve Smith, R Ashwin and Faf du Plessis.

New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum (Rs 7.5 cr) was the first overseas player to be picked in the Players Draft and will be seen playing for Rajkot.

Players from the suspended franchises will be divided into two groups - capped and uncapped - with the top names to be sold through the draft system.

CSK and Rajasthan Royals have been banned from the IPL for two yars by the Justice R.M. Lodha panel, which probed the betting and spot-fixing allegations in the 2013 edition of the tournament.

Pune, who had the first pick in the IPL draft opted for Indian limited overs captain, Dhoni straightaway, while Raina was the first pick of team Rajkot.

The other franchise from the western city of Rajkot chose McCullum for 75 million rupees ($1.1 million), James Faulkner for 55 million rupees ($820,000) and West Indian Dwayne Bravo for 40 million rupees ($597,000). Both played for Chennai Super Kings for long 8-years.

McCullum was picked up by the new Rajkot franchise, while Dhoni was drafted by Pune. Pune will be given the choice to pick the players first because they were the lowest bidders; the auction will be held at the Mumbai Cricket Association's recreation centre at the Bandra Kurla Complex. "Looking forward to have new teammates and support from the people of Gujarat", Raina tweeted on Tuesday after the draft. They are the big-hitting opener's fourth IPL franchise following stints with the Kolkata Knight Riders, Kochi Tuskers Kerala and Chennai.

Biswadeep Ghosh, an author who wrote the book "MSD: The Man, The Leader" said, "Dhoni has a great chance of building a new team from scratch".

The next edition of the Twenty20 league will be held from April 9 to May 29.

As expected, Pune moved for the Captain Cool, paying a staggering 12.5 crore for his services.

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