714 players in contention for IPL 9 auction; Yuvraj, Watson, Pietersen among those with highest base price
The BCCI has circulated a list of 714 players who are up for the IPL 9 auction among the franchises, who have time till January 25 to shortlist of 300 players from the list, according to Mumbai Mirror. Those 300 players will go under the hammer in the auction on February 6 in Bangalore.
The list includes international stars from all the countries except Pakistan and England. England, who have 11 representatives in the list, have however not allowed their main players to take part in the tournament because of workload issues.
Jos Buttler is the only high-profile presence in the IPL auction list, with the other name being Kevin Pieterson.
There are 146 capped players in the list, with 25 of them having played for India – Yuvraj Singh, Stuart Binny, Dinesh Karthik, Ishant Sharma, Barinder Sran and others.
Mathews skips IPL 9; Mustafizur, Pietersen may be biggest draws
Surprises on the list include Mustafizur Rahman, and the presence of six players of Oman in the list. Oman have recently qualified for the World T20 as well. There is a player each from Canada, Ireland and the Netherlands in the list as well.
Dale Steyn, Kevin Pietersen, Shane Watson, George Bailey, Sean Abbott and Mitchell Marsh are among the prominent international stars on the list.
Angelo Mathews will skip the IPL 9 as well, following up on a season when he had been picked up Delhi Daredevils at a whopping Rs. 7.5 crore. Kumar Sangakkara is also missing from the list, but the likes of Mahela Jayawardena, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Ajantha Mendis are there.
The franchises have close to Rs 200 crores to spend in the February event, an indication that a lot of cash may be thrown around. Indians like Yuvraj, Karthik are set to go for huge prices like last year, and there may be massive demand for players like the in-form T20 mercenary Pietersen and the breakaway star Mustafizur.
Rs. 2 crore is the highest base price for the players on the list. Some of the players with Rs 2 crore base price are Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Karthik, Stuart Binny, Mitchell Marsh, Shane Watson and Kevin Pietersen.
I hope so. Hopefully an @IPL franchise signs me up. Love India! https://t.co/BlUFwWraS9
— Kevin Pietersen (@KP24) January 22, 2016