IPL: 351 players, 8 teams. Here's your guide to India's biggest cricketing auction

The highly-decorated Indian Premier League (IPL) seems to have taken a back seat, with the ICC World T20 grabbing all the spotlight. However, the players' auction for the ninth edition of the tournament has brought India's cash-rich T20 tournament back into the spotlight.

Also read: BCCI announces Team India squad for World T20, Asia Cup

A total of 351 cricketers will go under the hammer in the IPL players' auction, scheduled to be held in Bengaluru on 6 February. With 230 Indians and 121 overseas players in the fray, this year's auction will also witness the participation of two new teams in Rising Pune Supergiants and the Gujarat Lions.

Out of the 351 cricketers on the auction list, 131 are capped players - from India (26), Australia (28), Bangladesh (5), England (7), New Zealand (9), South Africa (18), Sri Lanka (16), West Indies (20) - and 219 are uncapped players - from India (204), Australia (9), New Zealand (1), South Africa (2), West Indies (3), Canada (1) and Ireland (1).

Among the list released by the IPL Governing Council, eight cricketers have been marked as marquee players. Yuvraj Singh and Ishant Sharma are the two Indian cricketers in the list alongside Shane Watson (Aus), Kevin Pietersen (Eng), Aaron Finch (Aus), Martin Guptill (NZ) and Dwayne Smith (WI).

Out of these eight marquee players, four cricketers - Yuvraj, Ishant, Watson and Pietersen - have set their base price at Rs 2 crore. Other than these marquee players, Michael Hussey (Aus), Kane Richardson (Aus), Dhawal Kulkarni (Ind), Sanju Samson (Ind), Stuart Binny (Ind), Dinesh Karthik (Ind), Mitchell Marsh (Aus) and Ashish Nehra (Ind) also boast a base price of Rs 2 crore.

With a total of 100 players retained and another 62 released, here's a look at how the eight franchises stack up ahead of the IPL auction:

Delhi Daredevils

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Among the eight IPL franchises, Delhi Daredevils - owned by the GMR Group - have the maximum remaining purse of Rs 37.15 crore. The team has retained 13 players including eight Indians and five overseas cricketers.

Retained: Amit Mishra, Jayant Yadav, Mayank Agarwal, Mohammed Shami, Saurabh Tiwary, Shahbaz Nadeem, Shreyas Iyer, Zaheer Khan, Albie Morkel, Imran Tahir, JP Duminy, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Quinton de Kock

Released: Yuvraj Singh, CM Gautam, Domnic Muthuswami, Jaydev Unadkat, KK Jiyaz, Srikar Bharat, Manoj Tiwary, Angelo Mathews, Gurinder Sandhu, Marcus Stoinis, Travis Head

Gujarat Lions

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One of the two new teams this season, Gujarat Lions - owned by the Intex Mobiles group - have the second-highest remaining purse of Rs 27 crore. After participating in the unique IPL draft in November last year, the team from Rajkot secured the services of five players - two Indian and three overseas cricketers.

Suresh Raina has been appointed as their captain, while IPL veteran Brad Hodge has been roped in as the team's head coach. Apart from Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Brendon McCullum, James Faulkner and Dwayne Bravo will also add muscle to the new team.

Kings XI Punjab

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The Preity Zinta-owned Kings XI Punjab will have Rs 23 crore at their disposal to splash during the players' auction. The team has retained 14 players - including 10 Indian and four overseas cricketers.

Retained: Axar Patel, Anureet Singh, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Manan Vohra, M Vijay, Nikhil Naik, Rishi Dhawan, Sandeep Sharma, Shardul Thakur, Wriddhiman Saha, David Miller, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Johnson, Shaun Marsh

Released: Karanveer Singh, Parvinder Awana, Shivam Sharma, Virender Sehwag, Yogesh Golwalkar, George Bailey, Thisara Perera, Beuran Hendricks

Kolkata Knight Riders

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Two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders boast Rs 17.95 crore in their purse ahead of the crucial players' auction. The Shah Rukh Khan-owned franchise has retained 15 players - including nine Indian and six overseas cricketers.

Retained: Gautam Gambhir, Kuldeep Yadav, Manish Pandey, Piyush Chawla, Robin Uthappa, Sheldon Jackson, Suryakumar Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Yusuf Pathan, Andre Russell, Brad Hogg, Chris Lynn, Morne Morkel, Shakib Al Hasan, Sunil Narine

Released: Veer Pratap Singh, Aditya Garhwal, KC Cariappa, Sumit Narwal, Vaibhav Rawal, Pat Cummins, Ryan ten Doeschate, James Neesham, Azhar Mahmood, Johan Botha

Mumbai Indians

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Defending champions Mumbai Indians is the team with the least amount left in their purse and most players in their roster. Unlike the other teams who are looking to cover their bases, Mumbai seems to have a problem of plenty going into the auction with a remaining purse of Rs 14,40,50,000. The team has retained 19 players - including 13 Indian and six overseas cricketers.

Retained: Akshay Wakhare, Ambati Rayudu, Harbhajan Singh, Hardik Pandya, J Suchith, Jasprit Bumrah, Nitish Rana, Parthiv Patel, R Vinay Kumar, Rohit Sharma, Shreyas Gopal, Siddhesh Lad, Unmukt Chand, Corey Anderson, Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, Lendl Simmons, Marchant de Lange, Mitchell McClenaghan

Released: Aditya Tare, Abhimanyu Mithun, Pawan Suyal, Pragyan Ojha, Aiden Blizzard, Aaron Finch, Alex Hales, Ben Hilfenhaus, Colin Munro, Josh Hazlewood

Rising Pune Supergiants

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Apart from Gujarat Lions, Rising Pune Supergiants - owned by the Sanjiv Goenka group - is the other team that will be rubbing its shoulders with the other IPL giants this year. The new entrants will be eager to get right mix of players and having a remaining purse of Rs 27 crore if surely going to help their cause.

The team will be led by India's trusted captain MS Dhoni, while Stephen Fleming has been appointed as the head coach. The Pune franchise has already secured the services of five players - including three Indian (Dhoni, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ajinkya Rahane) and two overseas (Steven Smith and Faf du Plessis) cricketers.

Royal Challengers Bangalore

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The two-time IPL finalists, Royal Challengers Bangalore, boast some of the most deadliest batsmen in the shortest version of the game. The team has a staggering Rs 21,62,50,000 in their purse ahead of the players' auction. The Vijay Mallya-owned franchise has retained 14 players - including nine Indian and five overseas players.

Retained: Abu Nechim, Harshal Patel, Kedar Jadhav (transfer), Mandeep Singh, Sarfraz Khan, S Aravind, Varun Aaron, Virat Kohli, Yuzvendra Chahal, AB de Villiers, Adam Milne, Chris Gayle, David Wiese, Mitchell Starc

Released: Vijay Zol, Ashok Dinda, Dinesh Karthik, Iqbal Abdullah, Jalaj Saxena, Manvinder Bisla, Sandeep Warrier, Shishir Bhavane, S Badrinath, Yogesh Takawale, Nic Maddinson, Darren Sammy, Rilee Rossouw, Sean Abbott

Sunrisers Hyderabad

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While Sunrisers Hyderabad managed to reach the playoffs in their debut season in 2013, they failed to repeat their success over the next two years. With a remaining purse of Rs 30.15 crore, Hyderabad will be looking to land the influential players during the players' auction to back their campaign this season. The team has retained a total of 15 players - 10 Indian and five overseas cricketers.

Retained: Ashish Reddy, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Bipul Sharma, Karn Sharma, KL Rahul, Naman Ojha, Parvez Rasool, Ricky Bhui, Shikhar Dhawan, Siddarth Kaul, David Warner, Eoin Morgan, Kane Williamson, Moises Henriques, Trent Boult

Released: Chama Milind, Hanuma Vihari, Ishant Sharma, Laxmi Shukla, Praveen Kumar, Padmanabhan Prasanth, Dale Steyn, Kevin Pietersen, Ravi Bopara