Three hundred and fifty one players across 10 countries will hope to go under the hammer for a maximum of 116 slots during the Indian Premier League’s 2016 Player Auction, to be held in Bengaluru on February 6.
The 351-player list, including the base price opted by the player himself, was finalised by the IPL governing council at its meeting on Sunday. The mini-auction is usually a sedate affair with a couple of big international signings. However, that’s not the case this time around. With the two new franchises coming on board as replacements for the suspended Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, the mini-auction is set to be a glitzy affair with the inclusion of 40 players from the suspended teams.
Adding to the excitement is the fact that some of the established teams have released star players for the auction.
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Leading the pack as marquee players will be India speedster Ishant Sharma, Australia all-rounder Shane Watson, England batting genius Kevin Pietersen and Yuvraj Singh, the 2011 World Cup Player-of-the-Tournament who is now being tried out as a T20 specialist.
All the four cricketers have opted for the base price of Rs 2 crore, the highest option given to a player. Besides the quartet, eight others — Stuart Binny, Dinesh Karthik, Sanju Samson, Ashish Nehra and Dhawal Kulkarni (India), Mitchell Marsh, Kane Richardson and Michael Hussey (Australia) — have preferred Rs 2 crore as base price.
The marquee players’ line-up will be completed by South Africa speed sensation Dale Steyn (Rs 1.5 crore) who was surprisingly released by Sunrisers Hyderabad, Australia opening batsman Aaron Finch (Rs 1 crore), New Zealand opener Martin Guptill and Caribbean all-rounder Dwayne Smith (Rs 50 lakh each).
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Among the Indians, it will be interesting to see if one of the lesser-known domestic players hits a jackpot the way Mumbai’s Shreyas Iyer and Karnataka’s K.C. Cariappa did last year. Despite fetching Rs 2.4 crore last year, Cariappa has put the lowest base price of Rs 10 lakh after being released by Kolkata Knight Riders.
Number of slots open per team: DD 14 (including 4 overseas); KXIP 13 (5); KKR 12 (3); MI 8 (3); Rising Pune Supergiants 22 (7); RCB 13 (4); SRH 12 (4); Team Rajkot 22 (6).
Auction purse available per team: DD Rs 37.15 crore; KXIP Rs 23 crore; KKR Rs 17.95 crore; MI Rs 14.405 crore; Rising Pune Supergiants Rs 27 crore; RCB Rs 21.625 crore; SRH Rs 30.15 crore; Team Rajkot Rs 27 crore.