MUMBAI, Feb 18: Adam Gilchrist and Mahendra Singh Dhoni are at the top of the wish-lists for the eight franchises participating in the high-profile Indian Premier League ‘auction’ in Mumbai on Wednesday.

The explosive wicket-keeper/batsmen are regarded as the prime selections for any one of the teams in the Twenty20 tournament, with each side’s spending capped at $5 million for a maximum of eight contracted players each.

“After them, a few drawers are empty. Nobody else will fetch that kind of a price,” T.A. Sekhar, sports administration vice president of infrastructure company GMR Holdings, the owner of the Delhi franchise, said on Monday.

Dhoni’s base price in the open bid is reportedly set at $400,000, which places India’s one-day and Twenty20 captain in the highest bracket and on a par with home stars Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh, who will not go under the hammer.

League rules state they will represent their city-based franchises — Tendulkar for the Mumbai team, Ganguly for Kolkata, Yuvraj for Chandigarh and Dravid for Bangalore — and will get 15 percent over the highest paid player in their side.

Australian Gilchrist, who is retiring from international cricket next month, reportedly starts at $275,000, lower than team-mate Ricky Ponting ($350,000) but his devastating batting ability and charismatic personality make him hot property.

“Every team will go for the big players. They are the crowd-pullers. These are players on everyone’s list,” said Sekhar, a former India fast bowler.

More than 80 international cricketers are expected to feature in the auction of the officially sanctioned multi-million dollar IPL, which gets underway on April 18.

“It (auction) will be dynamic and change according to other players (franchises),” P.K. Iyer, managing director of media group Deccan Chronicle, which owns Hyderabad, said.

“All the franchises will have balanced teams,” he added.

“There are eight teams with a combined budget of $40 million. You have a few players who can go for three times the price of others but if a team goes for two such big buys, then it has exhausted its revenue completely.”

The Australian players are the most in demand, but the franchises are keeping their availability factor in mind. The duration of the contract is three years.

Australia’s trip to Pakistan in March and April clashes with the inaugural IPL although the tour looks increasingly unlikely to go ahead because of the security situation in Pakistan.

“Nobody will pay high for a player if he is available for only 20 percent of the tournament,” Sekhar said.

“We’ll need them for at least 80 percent of the duration to build a team,” added Sekhar, whose franchise is on the verge of appointing Victoria’s Greg Shipperd as coach.

Cricket Australia restrictions that prevent more than two Australians appearing in the same overseas team had come as a boon, Sekhar added.

“It’s good for us or else one team might have gone after three of four,” he added.

South African and Sri Lankan players were also in demand as they were the top fielding sides in international cricket along with Australia, Sekhar said.—Reuters