Following an amazing auction in Mumbai, Eurosport takes a look at the make-up of all eight teams in the IPL, the players' fees, and the strengths and weaknesses of everyone involved...

The Indian Premier League is proving itself a remarkable invention.

When the idea was first floated, surely no-one could have predicted the staggering interest that the player auction generated in Mumbai - and the start of the action is still two months away.

Owners of the eight franchises that make up the new Twenty20 league gathered at the Hilton Towers hotel on Wednesday morning with a total of $5million to bid for their team, and immediately began throwing around money like billionaires. Which is unsurprising, because most of them are.

With the franchise owners drooling over the pick of the world's highest-profile cricketers, a total value of $7.175m was spent in the first two hours - on only ten players.

India one-day captain Mahendra Dhoni and Australia all-rounder Andrew Symonds topped the bidding, with Chennai paying $1.5million a year to Dhoni and Hyderabad $1.35m a year to Symonds.

Each player will receive his auction price as an annual wage over the initial three-year contract.

The tournament, starting on April 18, will be the first time international cricketers will ditch their national allegiances to play for privately owned sides, after organisers raised more than a billion dollars to fund the venture.

Indians Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag have been given 'iconic' status, which means they will not be auctioned off and will lead their home cities. They are guaranteed 15 percent more than the highest-paid player at their franchise.

Eurosport takes a look at the make-up of the teams, their fees and who might come out on top...

Bangalore

Franchise owner: Vijay Mallya's United Breweries, bought for $111.6million

Team so far: Rahul Dravid (capt); Jacques Kallis (SA, $900,000); Anil Kumble (India, $500,000); Cameron White (Australia, $500,000); Zaheer Khan (India, $450,000); Mark Boucher (SA, $450,000); Nathan Bracken (Australia, $325,000); Dale Steyn (SA, $325,000); Wasim Jaffer (India, $150,000)

Team strengths: Bangalore are definitely a bowling team, with Zaheer, Bracken and Steyn sure to use all their skills and variations to rip through a few top orders, while Kumble and White will provide run-rate sapping leg-spin in the middle-overs. In Boucher, they have one of the most experienced and skilled wicketkeepers in the world.

Weaknesses: Perhaps light on explosive power in their batting, with Dravid and Kallis much more suited to the longer form of the game.

Calcutta

Franchise owner: Bollywood stars Shah Rukh Khan (pictured above) and Juhi Chawla, $75.09million

Team so far: Sourav Ganguly (capt); Ishant Sharma (India, $950,000); Chris Gayle (WI, $800,000); Brendon McCullum (NZ, $700,000); David Hussey (Australia, $625,000); Murali Karthik (India, $425,000); Shoaib Akhtar (Pakistan, $425,000); Ricky Ponting (Australia, $400,000); Ajit Agarkar (India, $350,000); Umar Gul (Pakistan) $150,000)

Team strengths: Packed full of adaptability and experience, Calcutta will surely start one of the favourites for the competition. They have plenty of batting strength down the order, and in Shoaib, Umar and Sharma have three bowlers with tons of experience of bowling on sub-continental pitches.

Weaknesses: For "experienced", read "pensioners". Calcutta might be a little slow and stiff in the field - and Twenty20 is surely a young-man's game.

Chennai

Franchise owner: India Cements, $91million

Team so far: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (India, $1.5million); Jacob Oram (NZ, $675,000); Albie Morkel (SA, $675,000); Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka, $600,000); Matthew Hayden (Australia, $375,000); Stephen Fleming (NZ) $350,000); Parthiv Patel (India) $325,000); Joginder Sharma (India) $225,000); Makhaya Ntini (SA) $200,000)

Team strengths: In Dhoni, Chennai have the man who led India to the first-ever Twenty20 World Cup last year, and Fleming and Hayden will provide plenty of advice. In young South African Morkel, they have one of the rising stars of the Twenty20 game.

Weaknesses: The lack of a specialist international class wicketkeeper might come back to haunt them, with Patel's glovework heavily criticised in his fledgling career.

Delhi

Franchise owners: GMR, $84million

Team so far: Virender Sehwag (capt); Manoj Tiwary (India, $675,000); Mohammad Asif (Pakistan, $650,000); Daniel Vettori (NZ, $625,000); Dinesh Karthik (India, $525,000); Shoaib Malik (Pakistan, $500,000); AB de Villiers (SA, $300,000); Tillekeratne Dilshan (Sri Lanka, $250,000); Farveez Maharoof (Sri Lanka, $225,000)

Team strengths: After Sehwag at the top of the order, Delhi have plenty of players who can nurdle the ball around and keep the scoreboard ticking over in the middle overs - one of the keys to consistent Twenty20 success.

Weaknesses: Perhaps a lack of raw, genuine pace in their bowling attack might come back to haunt Delhi. Maharoof is a solid, fast-medium bowler - but they can sometimes be cannon-fodder in Twenty20 cricket.

Hyderabad

Franchis owner: Deccan Chronicle, $107million

Team so far: Andrew Symonds (Australia, $1.35m); RP Singh (India, $875,000); Rohit Sharma (India) $750,000); Adam Gilchrist (Australia, $700,000); Shahid Afridi (Pakistan, $675,000); Herschelle Gibbs (SA, $575,000); VVS Laxman (India, $375,000); Scott Styris (NZ, $175,000); Nuwan Zoysa (Sri Lanka, $110,000); Chamara Silva (Sri Lanka, US$100,000)

Team strengths: Put simply, a stunning batting line-up. In Gilchrist, Afridi, Gibbs and Symonds, they have four of the biggest hitters in world cricket - and even all-rounder Styris has a reputation for going long. Laxman and Silva offer steady runs should the top order fail.

Weaknesses: A lack of spin? Afridi will send down a few overs of his medium-pace leg-spin, but there will be little in the way of a slower option for Hyderabad.

Jaipur

Franchise owners: Emerging Media, $67million

Team so far: Graeme Smith (SA, $475,000); Yusuf Pathan (India, $475,000); Shane Warne (Australia, $450,000); Munaf Patel (India, $275,000); Younis Khan (Pakistan, $225,000); Kamran Akmal, (Pakistan, $150,000)

Team strengths: Warne will surely provide plenty of wickets; few players in world cricket have ever got the better of him, either in the long or shorter versions of the game. And perhaps the lack of a massive-name will galvanise rather than divide.

Weaknesses: But then again, perhaps the lack of a big-name, star-man will prove their undoing - and how fit will Warne actually be after a year out of the international game?

Mohali

Franchise owner: Bollywood stars Priety Zinta and Ness Wadia, $76million

Team so far: Yuvraj Singh (capt); Irfan Pathan (India, $925,000); Brett Lee (Australia, $900,000); Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka, $700,000); Sree Santh (India, $625,000); Mahela Jayawardene (Sri Lanka, $475,000); Piyush Chawla (India, $400,000); Romesh Powar (India, $170,000)

Team strengths: A very solid middle-order with a bucketful of international experience; Yuvraj is a fine finisher in the shorter form of the game, while the twin-axis of Sri Lankan stars Sangakkara and Jayawardene very, very rarely fail to make runs.

Weaknesses: Lack of big-hitting openers to get the scoreboard moving at the top of the innings, taking advantage of the fielding restrictions.

Mumbai

Owner: Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Limited, $111.9million

Team so far: Sachin Tendulkar (capt); Sanath Jayasuriya (Sri Lanka, $975,000); Harbhajan Singh (India, $850,000); Robin Uthappa (India, $800,000); Shaun Pollock (SA, $550,000); Lasith Malinga (Sri Lanka) $350,000); Dilhara Fernando (Sri Lanka) $150,000);

Team strengths: Excellent variety in their bowling attack. Pollock will get seam-movement with the new ball, while Fernando has a superb, deceptive slower-ball. Harbhajan will provide a threatening spin option, Tendulkar can bowl anything, while Malinga will come on to polish off the tail.

Weaknesses: A bit light on the batting. Tendulkar and Jayasuriya are fine players at the top of the order, but only Uthappa comes afterwards.

Alex Sharratt / Eurosport