Mega auction

A mega auction is a full reset of a franchise league, in which every club releases all but a few retained players and rebuilds its squad from a fresh purse. A mini auction, held in the seasons between, deals only in the players clubs have released.

Mega auctions come around every few seasons, three in the IPL's recent cycle. Because nearly the whole player pool is available, they are the moment a struggling club can transform itself, and the moment a dominant one can be broken up. Every club has a large purse, the marquee sets are full of stars, and prices are driven by the number of buyers rather than the number of players. Strategy is about the whole squad: role budgets, a spine of five or six players, and enough money to fill the last places with proper cricketers.

A mini auction is a different market. Most clubs have most of their squad and a fraction of their purse, so the pool is smaller and the needs are specific. Prices for the few players who fit several clubs' gaps can be extraordinary, because a club with one slot and thirty crore to spend has no reason to hold back. A manager going into a mini auction should know the one or two players who fix the side, and what everyone else will pay for them.

In Masterstroke: mega auctions tear the league up every third season. Mini auctions between them are about the one signing that fixes your middle order.