Chris Gayle ... on the auction block today in India. - File

MUMBAI, India (AP):

INDIA'S CRICKET experts are fine-tuning software programmes and crunching numbers ahead of a landmark auction today to secure the world's best players in a brand new Twenty20 league.

Team owners - featuring billionaires and Bollywood movie stars - are busy formulating strategies on how best to spend their maximum US$5 million (€4.2 million) during the auction that will kick-start the Indian Premier League (IPL).

"We're using a specific software programme that will show us the practical balance of player versus a cost matrix," said Vijay Vancheswar, a vice-president with infrastructure group GMR that bought the Delhi team.

A senior IPL official said bidders could not contact anyone outside of the auction room during the live stages of the auction, which will start in the afternoon and could go until midnight at a seafront Mumbai hotel.

"There is a recess to strategise and regroup at the end of every segment of 12 players sold. There will be official updates at the end of every segment about which players have been sold to whom," said the IPL official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

Sought-after players

Former India skipper Rahul Dravid may attend the auction along with Bangalore owner Vijay Mallya, the team's CEO Charu Sharma said.

"We certainly hope Rahul will make it. He's spared a lot of time for the team and can give us a sense of things inside," Sharma said. "Dr. Mallya loves auctions and he has plenty of experience."

Cellphones would be banned inside the auction room, Sharma confirmed.

The most sought-after players are expected to be India's limited-overs and Twenty20 captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, pacemen Irfan Pathan, Munaf Patel and Ishant Sharma, Australians Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting and Brett Lee, West Indies allrounder Chris Gayle and South Africans Jacques Kallis and Justin Kemp.

"They are the usual suspects, the global stars. But you have to have a mix and strike some kind of balance between the stars and the younger hopefuls," Sharma said. "We need a healthy balance of skill sets."

Each franchise can sign up to eight non-Indian players for its 16-man roster, but only four foreign players can feature in a starting line-up during competition.

Each XI must also contain four under the age of 22.

First on auction will be what the IPL has termed the 'marquee players' or cricketers who are the biggest draw, including Australians Ponting, Gilchrist and Andrew Symonds.

Reserved 'icons'

Each of the franchises will be allotted a computer that will detail the available balance, while a big screen show the names of players that have been won by each squad.

The auction will be conducted by British auctioneer Richard Madley, a director at Dreweatts auction house.

The IPL reserved four 'icon' players from the auction -- team captains Sourav Ganguly (Calcutta), Yuvraj Singh (Mohali), Sachin Tendulkar (Mumbai) and Rahul Dravid (Bangalore) - who are guaranteed 15 per cent more than the highest-paid player at their franchise.