Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff will be the star attractions among 43 players who will go under hammer at the IPL players auction.
Flamboyant English batsman Kevin Pietersen and compatriot all rounder Andrew Flintoff will be the star attractions among 43 players who will go under hammer at the Indian Premier League's second season Players' Auction here on Friday.
Australian vice-captain Michael Clarke was tipped as another hot property at the auction until he made himself unavailable for the lucrative Twenty20 tournament for the second consecutive season, citing his attempt manage the workload in view of the busy international calender.
The IPL governing council has set the stakes far higher this year for the marquee players with Pietersen's base price being USD 1,350,000 and Flintoff attracting USD 1,000,000. Clarke was also tagged at USD 1,000,000.
The benchmark was set in IPL's inaugural year in 2008 when, in a stunning steal in the first round itself, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) purchased current India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni for a staggering USD 1.5 million to set the tone for the rest of the high-profile proceedings held in Mumbai.
Dhoni's reserve price had been fixed at USD 400,000 and the CSK franchise bid almost four times that to bring into its fold one of the most exciting batsmen in world cricket today.
The swashbuckling wicket keeper-batsman subsequently justified that top billing by leading the team to the final of the multi-million dollar prize money Twenty20 League.
With most of the top cricketers already in the kitbag of the eight respective franchises, who also have a reduced amount of money in hand, this year's auction is expected to be a little less frenetic.
Barring CSK, all the other franchises have an amount less than the cap of USD 2 million set by the IPL's Governing Council to spend at the auction, it was learned.
Mumbai Indians (MI) could be interested in the top cricketers but have to do with an available budget of USD 1.7 million to do their bidding.
The Sachin Tendulkar-led franchise had already spent USD 300,000 on West Indian all-rounder Dwayne Bravo and thus have only a reduced amount in their kitty for the auction.
MI have also swapped with Delhi Daredevils Asish Nehra for Shikhar Dhawan and with Bangalore's Royal Challengers Robin Uthappa for Zaheer Khan to bring in more balance to their team.
CSK and Punjab Kings Eleven seem to be interested in roping in Flintoff while Royal Challengers, who did not do well last season and finished seventh, are reportedly keen on picking up Pietersen to add meat to their batting.
No England cricketer was in the list of players during the February 20 auction in 2008.
The Englishmen available for auction this year are: Pietersen, Flintoff, Paul Collingwood (USD 250,000), Luke Wright (USD 150,000), Owais Shah (USD 150,000), Ravi Bopara (USD 150,000) and Samit Patel (100,000).
A total of 15 Australians, highest from any country, are to be auctioned off. The list includes well-known names like Stuart Clarke (USD 250,000), Shaun Tait (USD 250,000) and Phil Jacques (USD 100,000).Incidentally, no player from Pakistan is in the auction list.
Final list of players nominated for the auction and their base prices in USD:
Australia: Aaron Bird 45,000, Brett Geeves 45,000, Bryce McGain 50,000, Daniel Harris 50,000, Dominic Thornley 50,000, George Bailey 50,000, Jonathan Moss 50,000, Michael Dighton 85,000, Michael Hill 50,000, Phil Jacques 100,000, Shane Harwood 75,000, Shaun Tait 250,000, Steven Smith 75,000 and Stuart Clark 250,000.
Bangladesh: Mashrafe Bin Mortaza 50,000, Mohammed Ashraful 75,000, Shakib Al Hasan 75,000, Tamim Iqbal 50,000.
England: Andrew Flintoff 950,000, Pietersen 1,35,000, Luke Wright 150,000, Owais Shah 150,000, Paul Collingwood 250,000, Ravi Bopara 150,000 and Samit Patel 100,000.
New Zealand: James Franklin 50,000, Jesse Ryder 100,000 and Kyle Mills 150,000.
South Africa: Gulam Bodi 100,000, JP Duminy 300,000, Morne Van Wyk 100,000, Tyron Henderson 100,000 and Yusuf Abdullah 25,000.
Sri Lanka: Chamara Kapugedara 150,000, Kaushalya Weereratne 50,000, Nuwan Kulasekera 100,000 and Thilan Tushara 100,000.
West Indies: Dwayne Smith (To be confirmed), Fidel Edwards 150,000, Jerome Taylor (TBC), Kemar Roach 50,000 and Kieron Pollard 60,000.
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