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Bengaluru, february 19
There will be a strong focus on buying uncapped Indian players with eight franchises gearing up to pick a maximum of 76 out of the 350-plus players at the auction for the 10th IPL here tomorrow. This is the last auction of the 10-year cycle, following which all players will go back into the auction pool. While the franchises can have a maximum of 27 players, most are likely to keep their squad between 22 and 24.
It will be interesting to see if Test specialist Ishant Sharma, not one of the most sought after players in the shortest format, finds bidders at a base price of Rs 2 crore. Irfan Pathan, with a base price of Rs 50 lakh and his all-round abilities, can get a few bids. Fast bowler Varun Aaron, with a reasonable base price of Rs 30 lakh, is also expected to attract bidders.
Among the uncapped Indian players, young performers like Jharkhand batsman Virat Singh and teenage sensation Prithvi Shaw could attract good bids.
A clutch of top England players, including dashing all-rounder Ben Stokes, limited-overs skipper Eoin Morgan and hard-hitting opener Jason Roy, have entered the fray. As the England players won’t be available for the entire season, the franchises aren’t expected to go all out in their bids for them.
CoA bars top BCCI officials from auction
New Delhi: The Committee of Administrators (CoA) today barred three top BCCI officials from attending the auction. “CK Khanna, Amitabh Choudhary, Anirudh Chaudhry and any other person who claims to be ex-officio member of the IPL Governing Council on account of being office-bearers of BCCI shall not be entitled to attend the IPL player auctions since the issue regarding validity of the undertakings filed by such persons pursuant to the order dated 2nd January 2017 is still pending,” the CoA said. — Agencies
Key players available
Player Base Price
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