India pacer Ishant Sharma, England’s limited-overs skipper Eoin Morgan and former Australia pace spearhead Mitchell Johnson are among seven players who have been listed at the highest base price of Rs 2 crore (approx £237,000) for the IPL 10 player auction.
England all-rounders Ben Stokes and Chris Woakes, Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews and Australian fast bowler Pat Cummins are the rest of the players in this bracket. The IPL auction is scheduled to be held in Bangalore on February 20.
The Rs 1.5 crore bracket has England’s Johnny Bairstow, New Zealander Trent Boult, Australia’s Nathan Lyon and Brad Haddin, South African Kyle Abott and Jason Holder of the West Indies.
A total of 799 players are part of the initial roster which will be reduced once the franchises submit their preferences before the deadline this weekend. There are 160 capped players from eight countries – leaving out Bangladesh and Pakistan – and 639 from India, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and West Indies.
This will be the final year of IPL before the teams overhaul their squads for the 2018 season. The existing player contracts will expire after this campaign and most players are expected to go under the hammer at a mega auction ahead of the 2018 season.
Maverick England batsman Kevin Pietersen pulled out of the IPL last week, saying on Twitter: “FYI – I won’t be going into the IPL auction. My winter has been too busy with all my travel & I don’t want to spend April/May away too!,”
Pietersen turned out for the Rising Pune Supergiants in the last edition. However, he played only four matches before an injury forced him out of the event and he was later released from his deal.
