Pune will have first right of refusal over MS Dhoni

After eight years of creating a huge fan base in Tamil Nadu and making Chennai his home away from home, there had been big speculation over where MS Dhoni would move next in the Indian Premier League (IPL), following the Supreme Court-ordered suspension of his longtime franchise Chennai Super Kings.

While that speculation hasn't really ended, New Rising ­ the Pune franchise bought by the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group on Tuesday ­ are now technically eligible to have the first go at Dhoni when the BCCI conducts a player draft on December 15.

The draft system, being put in place to allow the two new franchises to be on par with the existing six franchises before the main player auction takes place on February 6 next year, will allow New Rising and Intex to pick five players each from a pool of 50 cricketers who are available following the suspension of Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals.

The likes of Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, Shane Watson, Brendon McCullum, Dwayne Smith, Steve Smith and a host of other players are available from a very impressive pool. Since New Rising have bid the lowest, they will have the first go in the draft thereby allowing them to pick Dhoni unless they have different ideas which would be a big surprise. "It's very unlikely New Rising won't pick Dhoni. Why shouldn't they? The way I see it, Dhoni will play for the Pune franchise," an official said.

Unlike the auction in February 2016, where all eight franchises will walk in with a heavier purse to buy cricketers, players available through draft next week can be bought by the two new franchises for stipulated amounts. As per the tender, the first capped player will be paid 12.5 crore while the remaining four capped players will get Rs 9.5 crore, Rs 7.5 crore, Rs 5.5 crore, and Rs 4 crore respectively. Uncapped players can be picked for a stipulated fee of Rs 4 crore.

This, in turn, means New Rising will have the first opportunity to bag Dhoni for only Rs 12.5 crore. "There is no reason why New Rising won't go for Dhoni," said an official at the auction.

The total salary cap for the teams is Rs 66 crores. The players picked through draft will not be allowed to be traded when the trading window begins later this month.

The Rajkot franchise, bought by Intex, will look forward to picking local boy Ravindra Jadeja who will also be available through the draft. "The likes of Raina, Rahane and the others will leave the new franchises with a lot of options in the draft before they go into the auction. It'll be a level-playing field," a BCCI official said.

Considering now that the two new franchises don't stand to gain from the central pool, their respective operational costs will only be have to be incurred additionally through their pockets. "There's a possibility that these franchises could adopt the Rajasthan Royals philosophy, where less and well-calculated spending always saw them (Royals) ending up with an impressive team each year," said an official.