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How to Conduct a Cricket Auction: A Step-by-Step Guide

By the BidArena team · Updated 20 October 2026

A player auction is the most exciting part of a local cricket tournament, and the part most likely to cause arguments. This guide explains how to plan and run a fair, fast IPL-style cricket auction for a local league, club or corporate tournament.

1. Decide the format

Start with three numbers: how many teams, how many players per team (squad size) and how many registered players. You need at least teams × squad size players. A 20–30% surplus keeps the bidding competitive. For example, 8 teams × 12 players = 96 slots, so aim for 110–125 registrations.

Also decide whether captains or icon players are fixed before the auction (retained) or go into the pool like everyone else.

2. Set the budget, base price and increments

Every team gets the same budget, in points (for example 10,000 points) or in rupees. Then set:

• Base price: the minimum bid for any player, such as 100 points.
• Bid increment: how much each new bid adds, such as +50.
• Higher increment after a threshold (optional): for example, +100 per bid once the price passes 1,000. This speeds up bidding wars for star players.

A useful check: the budget should be at least squad size × base price, with plenty left over for competition. See cricket auction rules and the max-bid formula for worked examples.

3. Collect the player list

For each player, collect their name, role (batter, bowler, all-rounder, wicket-keeper), batting hand, place/team and a clear photo. Photos make the auction far more engaging on a big screen. The easiest way is a registration link that players fill in themselves. You can also collect the details in a spreadsheet and import it.

4. Share the rules before auction day

Most auction disputes come from rules nobody explained. Send team owners a short rule sheet that covers the budget, base price, increments, squad size, what happens to unsold players, and how ties or mistakes are handled. Get agreement in the team owners' WhatsApp group.

5. Prepare the venue

• A laptop for the auctioneer, plus a projector or TV for the audience.
• A seat and a table card for each team owner, and a way to signal bids (paddles, hand raise or calling out).
• A stable internet connection, ideally with a mobile hotspot as backup.
• A public live link that players and fans at home can follow on their phones.

6. Run the auction

1. Bring up a player, either in a set order or by random draw (fairer, and more exciting).
2. Open at the base price. Teams bid up in fixed increments.
3. Stop bids that teams can't afford. A team must always keep enough budget to fill its remaining slots at the base price.
4. Close the bid with a "going once, going twice" and mark the player SOLD to the highest bidder, or UNSOLD if nobody bids.
5. Update budgets and squads immediately so everyone can see them.

7. Handle unsold players and finish

After the first round, bring unsold players back, often at the base price, until every squad is full. Then publish the final squads, remaining budgets and fixtures. Squad images shared in the tournament WhatsApp group go down well.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Tracking budgets by hand. One arithmetic slip can lead to a team overspending.
• Letting a team spend so much early that it can't fill its squad.
• Changing increments halfway through without telling anyone.
• No way to fix a mistaken SOLD call without starting over.

Run it with BidArena

BidArena is a free online cricket auction app (unlimited teams) that handles all of this. It has an animated random player draw, one-tap team bidding with automatic increments, budget protection, undo, a public live view for fans and downloadable squad cards. It works in any browser.