England test captain Joe Root and Australian speed star Mitchell Starc were excluded, while Bangladeshi off-roader Shakib Al Hasan and India’s S Sreesanth were among the 1,097 players who signed up for the long-awaited auction. IPL to be held in Chennai on February 18. Pacing arm Arjun Tendulkar, son of the legendary Sachin Tendulkar, also entered the auction with a base price of Rs 20 lakh. A total of 814 players from India and 283 from abroad – registered for the auction with the most entries coming from the West Indies (56), followed by Australia (42) and South Africa (38).
While Starc, who last played in the T20 league in 2015, misses once again, Root – centurion on the first day of the ongoing opening test against India, also did not sign up for the second time in a row, joining their fellow England players Harry Gurney and Tom Banton, who also did not sign up.
Shakib, who served a suspension by the ICC for failing to report a corrupt approach, traded at the higher base price of Rs 2 crore, while Sreesanth, who returned to cricket after seven years by performing on Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 for Kerala, it set its base price at 75 lakh rupees, according to ESPNCricinfo.
The 37-year-old pacemaker was initially banned for life by BCCI for its role in the 2013 IPL point fixation scandal, but the ban was reduced to seven years in August 2019.
Harbhajan Singh, Kedar Jadhav, Steven Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Moeen Ali, Sam Billings, Jason Roy, Mark Wood, Liam Plunkett and Colin Ingram all set their base price at Rs 2 crore.
Hanuma Vihari (Rs 1 crore) and Cheteshwar Pujara (Rs 50 lakh), who played a pivotal role in India’s incredible 2-1 Test victory over Australia, were also entered for the auction.
Current world number one T20 hitter Dawid Malan of England could make his IPL debut as he also registered for the auction at a base price of Rs 1.5 million.
Others trading at the same price include Alex Carey, Tom Curran, Mitchell Swepson, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Alex Hales, Jhye Richardson, Adil Rashid, David Willey, Adam Lyth and Lewis Gregory.
Australian pacemaker James Pattinson, who played a crucial role in the Mumbai Indians’ title race last year, is a notable absentee.
The player registration deadline closed Thursday and the roster comprises 207 international players, including 21 Indian internationals.
Twenty-seven players will represent partner nations and 863 unlimited cricketers, including 743 Indians and 68 overseas.
The number of unlimited Indians who have played at least one IPL game is 50 and two for unlimited overseas players.
“If each franchise had a maximum of 25 players on its team, 61 players will be selected at auction (of which up to 22 can be foreign players),” the IPL statement read on Friday.
The auction, scheduled one day after the second test between India and England, will begin at 3pm local time.
Kings XI Punjab enters the auction with the largest bag available at Rs 53.20 crore, followed by RCB (Rs 35.90 crore), RR (Rs 34.85 crore), CSK (Rs 22.90 crore), MI (Rs 15.35 crore), DC ( Rs 12.9 crore) and Rs 10.75 crore each for KKR and SRH.
Promoted
The 2020 edition was held in the United Arab Emirates due to the pandemic, but the next edition is likely to be played in India.
Country breakdown of 283 foreign players who have signed up: Afghanistan (30), Australia (42), Bangladesh (5), England (21), Ireland (2), Nepal (8), Netherlands (1), New Zealand (29), Scotland (7), South Africa (38), Sri Lanka (31), United Arab Emirates (9), USA (2), West Indies (56), Zimbabwe (2).
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