IPL 2019 auction to take place in Pink City on Tuesday

This Tuesday, selectors of Indian Premier League (IPL) will decide on the name of 70 players to fill the available spots on participant teams. The franchise have already shortlisted 346 players of the 1003 cricketers registered for auction and these will undergo hammer at IPL auction scheduled at Jaipur. 

In preparation for 12th edition of the T20 series, this time the auction hammer will be held by an independent fine art, classic car and charity auctioneer, Hugh Edmeades. 

Among the shortlisted players, 9 overseas cricketers have applied under highest base price bracket of Rs 2 crore. These include Brendon McCullum, Chris Voakes, Lasith Malinga, Shaun Marsh, Colin Ingram, Corey Anderson, Angelo Mathews and D’Arcy Short. Jaydev Unadkat to be list with base price of Rs1.5 crore remains on highest base price cricketer from India. Unadkat with a final bid amount of Rs11.5 crore was the last season’s top Indian grosser but was released by Rajasthan Royals a month ago. 

Also, back in the auction list are Punjab XI all-rounder players Yuvraj Singh and Axar Patel with a base price of Rs 1 crore. South African fast bowlers Dale Steyn and all round player Morne Morkel also attempt to make a return to the series and have registered on base price of Rs 1.5 crore.  The IPL tournament expected to be held in the mid of 2019 is apprehended to coincide with the parliamentary elections in the country, raising assumptions for the tournament matches to be held in other countries. 

However, the tournament continues to deepen its penetration in most region of India. For the first time in history of the tournament players from nine states of the country, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Uttarakhand and Puducherry have registered for the auction.

While players from test playing countries are expected to dominate the IPL auction, the registration this time also had 27 aspirants from Afghanistan and solo contenders from Ireland, Hong Kong, Netherlands and USA. The tournament over the past editions have emerged as a global event and apparently the biggest T20 tournament worldwide.

The Players

Among the shortlisted players, 9 overseas cricketers have applied under highest base price bracket of Rs 2 crore. These include Brendon McCullum, Chris Voakes, Lasith Malinga, Shaun Marsh, Colin Ingram, Corey Anderson, Angelo Mathews and D’Arcy Short.