A mini-auction is ideally meant to fine-tune a strategy crafted around the mega auction for the next three seasons. Historically, and in practice, that's how franchises have approached the two auctions - mega and mini. But come to Abu Dhabi on Tuesday (December 16), and see if there's anything truly 'mini' about it. At least for a couple of franchises, the stakes could be anything but small.

Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings may well be strategising for the next two seasons rather than merely fine-tuning their plans. One team - KKR - in fact will head into the Abu Dhabi auction with a larger purse - of INR 64.30 crore - than what they carried to last year's mega auction. They had INR 51 crore for the Jeddah shoppings.

It's not much different for the Chennai Super Kings either. They will enter Abu Dhabi with INR 43.40 crore - an amount not far off removed from what they had for last year's 'mega' purchases in Jeddah, where they carried around INR 55 crore. While the other eight franchises are generally better positioned in terms of squad composition, the situations with KKR and CSK are not exactly unique.

It is, of course, not a rare phenomenon in the IPL - teams are known to overhaul their squads ahead of the mini auctions. Franchises like Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals have, on occasions, looked to build - or rather rebuild - their sides after disappointing outcomes from their mega-auction purchases.

It is now self-evident that the Knight Riders and Super Kings will dictate the proceedings of the auction at least initially on Tuesday - the former, in fact, released some players so that it can shape the course of the auction, at least, initially. The top buys of Abu Dhabi, thus, are sure to go to one of these two teams - or both.

It is clear that Cameron Green will be the hottest cake in Abu Dhabi IPL shopping festival. The Australian all-rounder, despite being registered as a batter, will be hotly pursued by both the Knight Riders and the Super Kings. Who will win the early face-off is a point of interest at the very start of the proceedings. With greater financial muscle, the Knight Riders have an advantage - but do they have the appetite to go the distance, as they did for Mitchell Starc in Dubai a couple of years ago, when they broke the bank to secure the Aussie for INR 24.75 crore, is the question.

Among the capped Indians, Ravi Bishnoi is considered a player likely to be targeted by several teams. The former LSG spinner is No. 30 on the list, and his name will come up after the first four rounds. It is likely that many teams will keep funds aside to bid for him, but the sequence in the register may pose a slight disadvantage for a couple of other capped Indian players - Prithvi Shaw and Sarfaraz Khan.

Both Shaw and Sarfaraz are in the first lot, grouped in the BA1 category, and this placement may not work to their advantage. Franchises often reserve funds for marquee players, so that they don't fall short in the bidding races. Considering this, the two may not reach the expected levels, whether they are bought in the first round or in subsequent return rounds.

Apart from Green, Venkatesh Iyer and Liam Livingstone are being touted as major attractions, despite their relative underperformance last year. Iyer was a INR 23.75 crore buy in a frenzied bidding war between KKR and Royal Challengers Bengaluru. He managed just 142 runs in 11 games, weighed down by the pressure of expectations and his hefty price tag. Yet, given his IPL record, he may still be a top draw - much like Livingstone, who fared even worse, scoring 112 runs in 10 games.

An overriding feature of the mini-auctions is the demand-supply dynamic, which often leads to higher bids for uncapped players than in the mega auctions, as the overall quality and quantity of the available talent is limited. This could explain why the likes of Iyer and Livingstone will be hotly chased. It also may show why some uncapped players may attract bigger bids than they would in a mega-auction. Players in Lots 8, 9, and 10 - numbered 51 to 70 in the auction register - will be of particular significance.

The available purse for the auction stands at INR 237.55 crore, with up to 77 players set to be bought. By the arithmetic, the top three purchases could account for around INR 60 crore, while about 30-40 players might be sold in the Rs 30 lakh-INR 1 crore range, totaling roughly INR 25 crore. The remaining balance of INR 150-160 crore could be spent on the players in Lots 8, 9, and 10, consisting largely of uncapped Indians. They might attract bids of around Rs 5-6 crore - amounts they would not have received in the mega auction.

As things stand, there is some curiosity about a certain Wahidullah Zadran, an 18-year-old uncapped off-spinner from Afghanistan. It is said that he is a mystery spinner and mystery sells big in the IPL.

Cap on foreign player fees in mini-auction

In case you missed it, there's a salary cap for foreign players bought in the mini-auction. The maximum fee an overseas player can stand to gain from the mini-auction will be determined by the highest retention price of INR 18 crores or the highest auction price at the mega auction, whichever is lower. The highest auction price at last year's mega auction was INR 27 crore - which LSG paid for Rishabh Pant. This means, the most an overseas pick can earn at the upcoming mini-auction is INR 18 crore, even if the bid exceeds that. The difference amount will go to the BCCI and be used for players' welfare. On the request of the franchises, the IPL governing council formulated this salary cap rule to restrict foreign players from getting hefty bids in mini-auctions.