Complete list of 292 cricketers to go under the hammer at 2021 IPL Player auction released

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has released the complete list of 292 cricketers who are to go under the hammer at the 2021 Player Auction of the Indian Premier League. The player auction event will be held on February 18 in Chennai. 

Indian cricket fans have a lot on their plate as of now. With the ongoing India VS England series, the Indian fans are keenly hoping Indians to come back and keep the hopes of making it to the WTC final alive. But it is time to shift the focus for a while to the shorter format of the game which is the T20. The buildup of the Indian Premier League has already begun with the news of players. 

A total of 165 Indian cricketers will take part in the auction that is to be held in February along with 125 overseas players. Additionally, 3 players from Association Nations, Ali Khan (USA), Karthik Meiyappan (UAE) and Sandeep Lamicchane (Nepal), will also be crossing their fingers. These players have already made a mark on the BCCI and they will be crossing their fingers in the hopes of being contacted by any of the 8 IPL franchises.  

Bhajji and Kedhar Jadhav in the 2 Crore Slab

Veteran Indian spinner and now a commentator Harbhajan Singh and Kedhar Jadhav are two Indian players who have opted for the highest Rs. 2 Crore ($2,75,000) slab as their base price. Other players who have chosen the Rs. 2 Crore as their base price are Glenn Maxwell (Australia). Steve Smith (Australia), Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh), Moen Ali (England), Sam Billings (England), Liam Plunkett (England), Jason Roy (England) and Mark Wood (England). 

Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore will be looking to make the most of this opportunity as it has 11 available slots that are waiting to be filled including 3 overseas slots. Although, it will be competing against Kings X1 Punjab who have the biggest purse available right now with a total of 14 slots to fill including 5 players in the overseas slot.  

Shifting back to the price brackets, a total of 12 players have chosen to be available for the second-highest price bracket (Rs. 1.5 Crore) for the coming auction. Not a single Indian cricketer has opted for that particular price bracket. 

The 12 players in the 1.5 crore bracket are Alex Hales (England), Alex Carey (Australia), Dawid Malan (England), Morne Morkel (South Africa), Lewis Gregory (England), David Willey (England), Tom Curran (England), Nathan Coulter-Nile (Australia), Shaun Marsh (Australia), Mujeeb Ur Rahman (Afghanistan), Adil Rashid (England) and Jhye Richardson (Australia).  

The 14th rendition of the Indian Premier League player auction will see the young 16-year-old Afghani spinner Noor Ahmad come under the hammer. He will be joined by the farthest side of the age spectrum with Nayan Doshi, from England who is 42 years old.

Arjun Tendulkar, the son of the living legend Sachin Tendulkar has also made it to the player shortlist. Young Arjun had his T20 debut this year when he played in the 2020-21 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. In his 2 matches for his home team Mumbai, Arjun picked up two wickets with a disappointing economy rate of 9.56. 

You can check out the complete list of retained players for the IPL 2021 auction here.

IPL 2021 available slots, squad size and salary cap of all 8 franchises

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