With 971 cricketers going under the hammer for 73 available spots, at the IPL 2020 auction in Kolkata on December 19, it is will be yet another game of one-upmanship between the eight franchises.
There will be 713 Indians and 258 overseas players up for grabs at the players auction, which will once again be moderated by Hugh Edmeades. It will include 215 capped players, 754 uncapped and two cricketers from associate nations.
Seventy-one players were released by their respective franchises on November 15—the deadline for releasing, trading and retaining players. A total of 127 players were retained, including 35 foreigners.
The franchises have time till December 9 evening to submit their shortlist of players that will make up the final player auction list.
Country-wise number of players at IPL 2020 auction
Australia has the maximum number of players in the mix—55—followed by South Africa (54). The other countries include Sri Lanka (39), West Indies (34), New Zealand (24), England (22), Afghanistan (19), Bangladesh (6), Zimbabwe (3), Netherlands (1) and USA (1).
How much money do the teams have?
Kings XI Punjab go into the auction with a purse of Rs 42.70 crore, the biggest among the eight teams after they released eight players including South Africa's Miller, Englishman Sam Curran and mystery Tamil Nadu spinner Varun Chakravarthy, who was bought for a whopping Rs 8.4 crore last year.
Here are the auction purses of the remaining seven teams:
Kolkata Knight Riders: Rs 35.65 crore
Rajasthan Royals: Rs 28.9 crore
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Rs 27.9 crore
Delhi Capitals: Rs 27.85 crore
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Rs 17 crore
Chennai Super Kings: Rs 14.6 crore
Mumbai Indians: Rs 13.05 crore
Which players have the highest base prices?
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Seven players, of which five are Australian, have set their base price at Rs 2 crore—Chris Lynn, Dale Steyn, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Marsh, Pat Cummins, Angelo Mathews and Josh Hazlewood.
The ones in the Rs 1.5 crore-bracket include Robin Uthappa, Kane Richardson and Shaun Marsh of Australia, Eoin Morgan, Jason Roy, Chris Woakes and David Willey of England, and Chris Morris and Kyle Abbott of South Africa.
Debutants who are likely to be hot-buys this season
English wicketkeeper-batsman Tom Banton is likely to be on the top of every team's list, especially Mumbai Indians and CSK. The young, explosive right-hander made his T20 debut for Somerset in 2017. He has played 17 T20 matches for his county, scoring 591 runs at 39.40, at a strike rate of 154.30. He has impressed everybody with his ramp shots and reverse hits at the Abu Dhabi T10 League.
West Indies left-armer Sheldon Cottrell is another candidate. The Jamaican fast bowler has played 19 T20Is, picking up 27 wickets at a decent average of 19.40.
American leg-spinner Hayden Walsh Jr, too, should be in the mix after an impressive outing in the Caribbean Premier League this year. Playing for Barbados Tridents, which won the CPL 2019, he took 22 wickets in nine games at an economy rate of 8.28.
Yashasvi Jaiswal is another player to watch out for. The 17-year-old Indian left-hander turned heads with a 154-ball 203 for Mumbai in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, becoming the youngest batsman to score a double century in List A cricket. He made 564 runs at an average of 112.80. Jaiswal, who once sold pani-puris and fruits for a living, is part of the Indian squad for the U-19 World Cup early next year.
The big names who won't be part of IPL 2020
Australia pace spearhead Mitchell Starc opted out of the IPL for a second successive year. The 29-year-old last featured in the 2015 edition when he represented RCB. In last year's auction, the left-arm quick was signed by KKR for Rs 9.4 crore, but was unavailable for the entire tournament because of injury.
Some of the other big names who will be missing in action are Yuvraj Singh, who has retired from international cricket and IPL and plays in foreign T20 leagues now. Bangladesh star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, too, would not be available as he is serving a two-year ban by ICC for not reporting a bookie approach.
