Forty-eight players, including nine former Indian Premier League (IPL) captains, have opted for the highest base price of ₹2 crore for the Player Auction, scheduled to be held in Bengaluru on February 12 and 13. The IPL authorities on Tuesday announced the final list of 590 cricketers who will hope to go under the hammer for a maximum of 217 slots available in the auction.
Former captains
The nine former captains include India’s R. Ashwin, Shikhar Dhawan, Suresh Raina, Dinesh Karthik, Shreyas Iyer and Bhuvneshwar Kumar along with the Australian duo of David Warner and Steve Smith and Caribbean all-rounder Dwayne Bravo.
While some of the stand-in IPL captains, including Bravo and Bhuvneshwar, have opted for the highest bracket, some of the more regular and successful IPL captains like Eoin Morgan (₹1.5 crore) and Ajinkya Rahane (₹1 crore) have preferred to enter with a lesser assured price tag.
With two new teams — Lucknow Super Giants and the yet to be named Ahmedabad franchise — having been added to the IPL fold, the auction is likely to see fierce bidding for some of the rising stars in Indian cricket besides the seasoned pros.
No surprise
As a result, it is not surprising to see the likes of Shardul Thakur and Ishan Kishan having entered the auction with ₹2 crore base price. Among the domestic uncapped cricketers, Karnataka’s Devdutt Padikkal has chosen the highest price bracket.
Of the 590 shortlisted for the auction, 370 are Indians while the remaining 220 cricketers hail from 14 different countries.
Punjab Kings have most money in purse
Punjab Kings have the highest number of 23 slots available while Chennai Super Kings, Delhi Capitals, Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians have 21 vacancies.
The rest of the teams have 22 slots each.
Punjab Kings also head into the auction with the highest purse -- ₹72 crore -- while the Delhi Capitals have the lowest -- ₹47.5 crore.
Australia topped the overseas list with 47 players while 34 cricketers from the West Indies will also go under the hammer.
South Africa have 33 players, Sri Lanka 23, England 24, New Zealand 24 and Afghanistan 17.
Pruned list
The list was pruned from 1217 players who had registered themselves for the preliminary list based on the franchises’ preferences.
Slots available: 217.
Number of players in the fray: 590.
(India 370, Australia 47, West Indies 34, South Africa 33, England 24, New Zealand 24, Sri Lanka 23, Afghanistan 17, Bangladesh 5, Ireland 5, Namibia 3, Scotland 2, Zimbabwe 1, Nepal 1, USA 1).
(With inputs from PTI)
