IPL 2022: Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Mitchell Starc to skip auction

 Warner, Rabada, Bravo feature in maximum base price

NEW DELHI: Some big names in international cricket - Ben Stokes, Chris Gayle, Jofra Archer, Joe Root, Mitchell Starc, Chris Woakes and Sam Curran and a few other foreign players have decided to skip the Indian Premier League 2022 and subsequently didn't enroll for the mega-auction, to be held on February 12 and February 13.

Root had previously said that he would have to sacrifice IPL for England and Test cricket, but the absence of Stokes, Archer and Starc, Woakes and Gayle was a bit surprising. However, there are still very big international names who have made themselves available for the auction.

Among the big foreign stars names on the list, the players are - Pat Cummins (Australia, base price Rs 2 crore), David Warner (Australia, Rs 2 crore), Steve Smith (Australia, Rs 2 crore), Quinton de Kock (South Africa, Rs 2 crore), Faf du Plessis (South Africa, Rs 2 crore) and Mark Wood (England, Rs 2 crore), Trent Boult (New Zealand, Rs 2 crore), Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh, Rs 2 crore), Dwayne Bravo (West Indies Rs 2 crore) and others, as per ESPNcricinfo.

Meanwhile, veteran West Indies cricketer Chris Gayle, who has been a regular feature in the IPL since its inception is missing from the list. The Curran brothers - Sam and Tom - are other big absentees on the list as they are likely to be out of action during IPL (April-May) due to injuries.

Among the Indians are A-listers like R Ashwin, Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Chahar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shikhar Dhawan, Ishan Kishan, Dinesh Karthik and Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu and Robin Uthappa who all are in the top INR 2 crore reserve price bracket.

Pacers Prasidh Krishna and T Natarajan are in the Rs 1 crore category while S Sreesanth will be available at 50 lakh onwards. Spinners Washington Sundar and Amit Mishra are in the Rs 1.5 crore classification. Cheteshwar Pujara, the surprise pick in the last auction by Chennai Super Kings, is at 50 lakh.

Overall, a total of 1,214 cricketers, including 270 capped players, 312 uncapped players and 41 from associate nations like Nepal, UAE, Oman, Scotland and the Netherlands, have registered for the auction, and the list was sent to the ten IPL franchises on Friday night. A final, trimmed list will be prepared by the IPL governing council closer to the two-day auction, scheduled in Bengaluru for February 12 and 13, once the franchises send back their wishlists.

Notably, this will be the first mega auction conducted by the IPL since 2018, when the tournament featured eight teams. In this auction, there are two more teams after the IPL sold two new franchises -- to be based in Lucknow and in Ahmedabad - last October for record sums. Ahead of the auctions, a total of 33 players have been retained or picked. The existing eight IPL franchises have retained a total of 27 players while the two new IPL teams (Ahmedabad and Lucknow) have picked six players (three each) ahead of the auction.

The ten franchises have already spent nearly Rs 338 crore (US$ 45 million approx.) to retain and acquire 33 players. Most of the franchises will enter the auction with significant money to spend in order to build a fresh squad, but the likes of Punjab Kings, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals will have a bigger purse. (IANS)

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