4th February was the last date for players to register for this year’s auction for the Indian Premier League. According to the media advisory released by BCCI, 1097 players have registered.
Being a mini-auction, the maximum number of players that will be sold is exceedingly less. A total of 61 slots is available this year. Out of these, 22 positions are available for international players.
Total 283 international players have marked themselves available for the auction. Out of this, 27 players are from associate nations. BCCI also released a country-wise breakdown of the overseas players.
The auction will take place in Chennai on 18th February from 3 pm onwards.
There are few surprises in terms of players who have not registered for the auction. Some of these players would have gone for a decent amount of money in the auction.
Let’s look at all the things that have happened in the past few days.
No IPL for Joe Root and Mitchell Starc
Several people had predicted that Mitchell Starc would be the hottest commodity in this year’s auction. But he didn’t enroll for this year’s auction. Starc last played in IPL in the year 2015 for Royal Challengers Bangalore. In 2018, he was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders, but he missed that season due to an injury.
Joe Root has also not registered himself for this year’s auction. He had listed himself for the auction in the year 2018, but he was not picked up by any team. Since then, he has refrained from being a part of IPL.
James Pattinson, who played for Mumbai Indians last year, and Tom Banton, who was part of Kolkata Knight Riders, have also not registered for this year’s auction.
Sreesanth is back in the league
S Sreesanth, who was banned for spot-fixing in the year 2013, is also back in the auction pool. He has listed himself for 75 crores.
He was selected in Kerala’s squad for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy this year. He featured in all the five league matches of Kerala and picked up five wickets in total.
A few teams like Royal Challengers Bangalore, Rajasthan Royals, and Kolkata Knight Riders need an experienced player. Sreesanth could be a good fit in these teams.
Also, he played under Sanju Samson’s captaincy in SMAT. Samson is the captain of Rajasthan Royals. Chances are there that Sreesanth would again become a part of Rajasthan’s team.
The 2 crore club
The highest base price for a player in IPL is 2 crore. This year, a total of 11 players have placed themselves in this prestigious group.
List of players who have opted for two crore base price are:
- Steve Smith
- Shakib Al Hasan
- Glenn Maxwell
- Colin Ingram
- Liam Plunkett
- Jason Roy
- Mark Wood
- Moeen Ali
- Sam Billings
- Kedar Jadhav
- Harbhajan Singh
The likes of Steve Smith, Shakib Al Hasan, and Glenn Maxwell will surely go for more than their base price. Few of the teams require players like them to complete their XI.
It would be interesting to see the amount of money franchises put in the pool to rope in these players.
Other than these three, the chances of other players getting a contract this year are pretty less.
Umm interesting!