Stage set for Indian Premier League mega auction; Shreyas, Ishan, Harshal likely to spark bidding war

New Delhi, Feb. 11 (IANS): The excitement will be at its peak and hundreds of cricketers and countless fans from all over the world will be on the edge of their seats when the paddle will go up and hammer will change the fortunes of many players in the IPL 2022 mega auctions, set to be held this weekend in Bengaluru.

Over the years, IPL has been an enormous boon to cricketers as it has given them a huge platform to perform, earn money and fame. Apart from the financial gains, the real value to a cricketer has been the wealth of experience and cricket-related knowledge because of the diversity that IPL provides.

Also, success in the IPL could lead to a player achieving their dream of getting a call from their national teams. So every cricketer wishes to be a part of the league and auction is the first stage of realising their dreams.

On February 12 and 13, the 10 franchises will fight among themselves to fill the remaining slots. Each team can have a maximum number of 25 players and at least 18 in their squad. Amongst 590 players (370 Indian, 220 Overseas), who have registered for the auction, 228 are capped players, 355 are uncapped and seven belong to Associate Nations.

The highest reserve price is INR 2 crore and as many as 48 players have chosen to place themselves in this bracket. There are 20 players on the auction list with a reserve price of INR 1.5 crore while 34 players are on the list of cricketers with a reserve price of INR one crore.

A total of ten-star cricketers — David Warner, R Ashwin, Trent Boult, Pat Cummins, Quinton de Kock, Shikhar Dhawan, Faf du Plessis, Shreyas Iyer, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Shami, will be the part of the marquee set that will ring in the mega auction.

The marquee set will be followed by a full round of capped players by specialties — batsmen, all-rounders, wicketKeeper/batsmen, fast Bowlers, and spin bowlers and then move into a full specialism round of uncapped players.

Among the Indian players, the likes of Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur and Yuzvendra Chahal are likely to spark a bidding war when the mega-auction commences on Saturday.

Three teams — Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), Punjab Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) — need a captain and Shreyas Iyer, who is a potential candidate to lead a side, could go for megabucks.

Young Ishan Kishan, a dashing wicketkeeper-batter, who is tailor-made for T20 cricket, is also a hot prospect to fetch big money. Pacer Harshal Patel, the highest wicket-taker of IPL 2021, has different variations, which are tough to pick and his miserly death over bowling is an invaluable asset, so he is set to fetch a big amount.

Then there are Deepak Chahar and Yuzvendra Chahal, who have a terrific record in IPL for playing at CSK and RCB, also set to attract bidders with their skills. Also, not to forget, Shardul Thakur, who will fit the bill for a franchise looking for a seamer who can contribute with the bat as a finisher.

Among the overseas players Quinton de Kock, Kagiso Rabada and Trent Boult, David Warner, Shreyas Iyer and Pat Cummins could go for big bucks.