A total of 135 Indian and 142 foreign players will go under the hammer when the players auction for the fourth edition of the Hockey India League (HIL) gets underway at city hotel in New Delhi on September 17.
The six franchisee will bid for players from India, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, USA, England, South Africa, Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Scotland, Malaysia, Japan and Korea to complete their teams.
Earlier in August this year, HIL had provided all the franchisees the option to retain upto three Indian and as many foreign players, while releasing the rest of the squad.
A total of 276 players are listed for the auction and among them, 135 players are from India and 142 players belong to other leading hockey nations.
Under the new rules and regulations, franchisees can build a team of 20 players, which allows each franchisee to have 12 Indian players and 8 foreign players.
Defending champions Ranchi Rays retained its total quota of six players, including team captain Ashley Jackson along with Barry Middleton and Fergus Kavanagh. The three Indian players retained by the team include Manpreet Singh, Birendra Lakra and Kothajit Singh.
On the other hand last year’s runners-up Jaypee Punjab Warriors will be eyeing for the most suitable nine Indian and five foreign players.
With the release of Jaap Stockmann the franchisee will also have to get a goalkeeper as agile and as world class as the Dutchman.
Punjab Warriors has a pocket of $472,500, while they have already spent $252,500 on the players that they have retained for the upcoming season.
Punjab Warriors had held back the entire quota of their six players including SV Sunil along with the young and vibrant Satbir Singh and Varun Kumar. The foreign players retained by the franchise include three Australians — Chris Ciriello, Mark Knowles and Jacob Whetton.
Last season’s debutants Dabang Mumbai have retained only three players and released the rest of the squad for the auctions including star striker Tom Boon of Belgium.
With a kitty of $563,000, Dabang Mumbai has to pick 11 Indian and six foreign players, while they have already spent $162,000 on the three retained players.
Delhi based Waveriders have also retained their quota of six players including the experienced Simon Child, Tristan White and Steven Edwards along with India’s Talwinder Singh, Yuvraj Walmiki and Surender Kumar.
To bid for the remaining nine Indian and five foreign players, the franchisee is left with USD 514,000 after spending $211,000 on the six players they had held back.
Kalinga Lancers have reatined Devindar Walmiki, Lalit Upadhyay and Gurjinder Singh besides goalkeeper Andrew Charter and Aran Zalewski.
With $520,000 left in their kitty, the Lancers will look at creating the ideal team that they have been wanting since they made their debut in 2014.
Uttar Pradesh Wizards, on the other hand, have retained experienced Indian trio of PR Sreejesh, Ramandeep Singh, V.R. Raghunath, Jolie Wouter and Edward Ockenden while releasing the rest of the team.
Having already spent $284,000, the franchisee has a kitty base of $441,000 to pick up their rest 15 players.
The HIL Auction 2015 will be conducted by renowned auctioneer Bob Hayton of London, who has 30 years of experience in this profession.
