Mumbai, Dec.15 : Former Chennai Super Kings team-mates Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Suresh Raina will compete against each other for the first time in the Twenty20 Indian Premier League next year.
While India’s limited-overs captain Dhoni was the first pick for the new Pune franchise, T20 specialist Raina was the first player to be roped in by Rajkot at the 2016 Players’ draft held in Mumbai.
Ajinkya Rahane, Ravichandran Ashwin, Steven Smith and Faf du Plessis were the other four premier players picked by the Pune franchise, which is owned by New Rising.
On the other hand, Ravindra Jadeja, Brendon McCullum, James Faulkner, Dwayne Bravo were chosen by the Rajkot team, owned by Intex.
Both the franchises have spent Rs. 39 crore each out of their auction purse of Rs. 66 crore and the rest will be used to buy remaining players during the main auction in February.
The players’ draft was necessitated after the Supreme Court-appointed Justice R.M. Lodha committee had handed a two-year suspension on CSK and Rajasthan Royals after their investigation into the 2013 IPL corruption scandal.
Earlier this month, Sanjeev Goenka’s company New Rising and mobile phone manufacturer Intex won ownership rights of the two new franchises in the IPL. (ANI)