The BCCI has announced the final shortlist of players set to go under the hammer in the 2022 IPL auction on 12 and 13 February, with 590 cricketers making the cut.
Amongst the 590 players who have been shortlisted for the auction, 228 are capped players, 355 are uncapped players and seven belong to Associate Nations.
With the 10 teams looking to buy between 21-23 players each in the auction, 48 players have listed their base price at the highest Rs 2 crore. The BCCI though has picked 10 players from this list and put them in the 'marquee list' that will kick-start the auction.
A fierce battle to acquire the services of some of the finest Indian cricketing talent is on the cards with the likes of Shreyas Iyer, Shikhar Dhawan, R Ashwin, Mohammad Shami, Ishan Kishan, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav all part of the auction pool.
A total of 33 players were retained, and picked, by the 8 old, and 2 new, IPL teams before the auction with players like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni all staying with the teams they have played for for the last few years.
After the Rs 2 crore slab is the Rs 1.5 crore lot which comprises 20 players while the 34 players have listed their base price as Rs 1 crore.
The 'Marquee' Set
A total of 10 star cricketers -- David Warner, R Ashwin, Trent Boult, Pat Cummins, Quinton de Kock, Shikhar Dhawan, Faf du Plessis, Shreyas Iyer, Kagiso Rabada and Mohammed Shami -- have been named in the marquee set that will kick off the auction.
The BCCI has informed the franchises that the auction process, "will commence with the marquee set followed by a full round of capped players by specialism -- batsmen, all-rounders, wicket Keeper/batsmen, fast bowlers and spin bowlers and then move into a full specialism round of uncapped players."
44 New Names in the Final List
1,214 players had registered for the auction last month but 44 new names can be found on the final list which includes England fast bowler Jofra Archer, who the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) recently said is in the final stages of his recovery from elbow surgery with a planned return to all cricket in June.
In the email sent to franchises, IPL chief operating officer Hemang Amin said Archer would be part of the accelerated set of players, which will commence from player No 161. Amin also added the ECB had made it clear that Archer was "unlikely" to play in IPL 2022 and if any franchise picks him up they will not be able to get a replacement.
"The ECB has registered Jofra Archer for the auction with a view to potential participation in 2023 and 2024, as due to his current injury it is unlikely that he can participate in IPL 2022," ESPNcricinfo quoted Amin as saying.
"Therefore, his name has been included in the auction list but he won't feature in the marquee or other sets to be presented. He will be available to be called during the accelerated auction and whoever picks him will not get a replacement player for IPL 2022 season for his place as he is already injured and unlikely to participate in IPL 2022 season," he added.
Another notable addition in the new list is Usman Khawaja, who had not enrolled initially. Apart from Archer and Khawaja, new additions include one from Afghanistan, five more from Australia, 11 from India, two Ireland, six from New Zealand, two from Scotland, four more from Sri Lanka and West Indies each, and seven more from South Africa.
Gayle Refuses to Enter Auction
A notable absentee from the additions is Chris Gayle. It has been learnt that at least a couple of franchises had requested for Gayle's inclusion, however, the West Indian legend has decided to stay away from the IPL this year. There were also requests for the recall of Ben Stokes and Mitchell Starc, but no success was there on that front.
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