Setting Base Prices in a Cricket Auction - The Science Behind the Numbers

The base price is the first number a player sees in an auction, and it shapes everything that follows. Set it too high and good players go unsold because teams cannot afford them. Set it too low and everyone gets picked at the minimum, eliminating the competitive bidding that makes auctions exciting.

Getting base prices right is not guesswork. It is a function of your purse size, squad requirements, and player quality distribution.

The Math Behind Base Prices

Start with the constraints:

If every player went at the absolute minimum base price of Rs 1,000, a team would spend Rs 11,000 for a full squad - leaving Rs 89,000 unused. That is too much slack. There is no tension in the bidding.

If the average base price is Rs 8,000, a team needs Rs 88,000 just to fill a squad at base prices. Only Rs 12,000 left for bidding wars. Every competitive bid risks leaving the team short.

The sweet spot: the sum of minimum squad cost (11 × lowest base price) should be 40-60% of the total purse. This leaves enough room for 3-4 bidding wars per team while ensuring they can still fill the squad.

With Rs 1,00,000 purse and 11 players: target minimum squad cost of Rs 40,000-60,000. If the lowest tier is Rs 1,000, you need the mix to average Rs 3,600-5,400 per player.

The Tier System

Three tiers is the standard for local tournaments:

Category A (Marquee) - Base Price: Rs 5,000-8,000

These are the known quantities: the guy who scores a fifty every match, the bowler who swings it both ways, the keeper-batter who everyone wants. In a pool of 100 players, 15-20 belong in Category A.

How to identify them: past tournament stats (top 10 run scorers, top 10 wicket takers), district/state-level playing experience, and community consensus ("Everyone knows Ravi is the best bat in the league").

Category B (Solid) - Base Price: Rs 2,000-4,000

Reliable players who may not be stars but form the backbone of any team. Good fielders, consistent medium-pacers, batsmen who rarely get out for single digits. About 30-40 of your 100 players.

Category C (Emerging/Unknown) - Base Price: Rs 1,000-2,000

New players, juniors, and those without a track record. This is where the auction's best stories come from - the Rs 1,000 pick who turns out to be the tournament's highest scorer. About 40-50 of your 100 players.

Common Pricing Mistakes

Mistake 1: Letting Players Choose Their Own Category

Some auctions let players nominate their base price. This leads to two problems: good players set their base too high (ego) and go unsold, while average players set theirs too low to guarantee getting picked. The organizer should assign categories based on objective criteria.

Mistake 2: Too Many Categories

Five or six price tiers create unnecessary complexity. The auctioneer and team owners lose track. Three tiers is sufficient. If you need granularity, use three tiers with a small range within each (Category A is Rs 5,000-8,000, and the organizer sets specific prices within that range).

Mistake 3: Not Accounting for Unsold Recovery

When a player goes unsold at Rs 5,000, they return in the recovery round at a reduced price - typically 50-75% of the original base. If you set base prices assuming zero unsold players, the recovery round floods teams with cheap talent and unbalances the squads.

Plan for 10-15% of players going unsold in the first pass. Factor their reduced prices into your overall auction economy.

Role-Based Pricing Adjustments

In cricket auctions, all-rounders command a premium because they fill two roles in one squad slot. A practical adjustment:

This creates natural bidding tension. Team owners who need an all-rounder compete harder, driving prices up and making the auction more dynamic.

Special Rules That Add Strategy

Right to Match (RTM)

If a player was on a specific team in the previous edition, that team can match the winning bid to retain the player. This adds a strategic layer: do you bid aggressively knowing the previous team might invoke RTM, or do you let them retain the player and save your purse for others?

RTM works well in recurring tournaments where teams have continuity between editions. It rewards loyalty and adds drama.

Icon Players

Each team designates 1-2 icon players who are retained before the auction at a fixed price (deducted from purse). This guarantees team identity continuity - the face of Team Warriors is always there - while still leaving most players for the open auction.

Marquee Set

A special first set of 8-10 players (one per team, mandatory bid) ensures every team starts with a strong player. This prevents one team from sweeping all the best players while others hesitate.

Testing Your Pricing

Before the live auction, simulate it. Take your player list with base prices, gather 2-3 people, and run a mock auction on paper. You will quickly see if prices are too high (too many unsold), too low (no bidding wars), or well-balanced.

Most auction platforms let you set up a test auction. Zplys allows you to configure the entire auction - player pool, base prices, purse, squad rules - and preview how it would flow before going live. Adjust base prices based on the simulation, then run the real thing.

The Right Base Price Creates the Right Auction

A well-priced auction has these characteristics: 85-90% of players are sold in the first pass, 3-5 players per team trigger bidding wars (going for 2-3x their base price), the recovery round has 10-15 players picked up at reduced prices (creating value picks), and no team finishes the auction with more than 15% of their purse unused.

When the numbers work, the auction feels electric. Team owners make tough choices. Players feel valued. Spectators are entertained. And the tournament has not even started yet.