The IPL Player Auctions 2021 is set on Feb 18th, which will see a number of players contesting for the 61 remaining spots. Earlier the franchises had released the list of retained players with quite a few bold decisions in preparation for the upcoming IPL. A total of 139 players were retained for 483.39 Cr by the IPL franchises, making available a total of 196.6 Cr left to the franchises to fill up the remaining spots.
To the surprise of some, Steven Smith was not retained by the Rajasthan Royals while Sanju Samson was promoted to be the captain of the team. Royal Challengers Bangalore released a total of 12 players making available a purse of 35.2 Cr, While Kings Xl Punjab remains the team with the highest purse of 53 Cr available to spend for the upcoming auctions.
There is a grand total of 1097 players that have registered for the upcoming Indian Premier League Auction 2021. Of which, 814 players hail from India with the remaining 283 of them being overseas players. West Indies has the highest representation among the overseas players with a count of 56 players, followed by 42 Australians, 38 South Africans, and 27 players from associate nations.
This edition might see the long-awaited return of S Sreesanth, who completed his ban of 7 years. Excited to mark his return, he has set his base price at 75 lakhs. His recent participation in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy as he marked his return to cricket, showed no loss of vigor and encouraging signs all around. To the surprise of many, A man known for his slow innings India’s Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara has registered himself for 50 lakhs, citing that if given a chance he will do well.
Garnering some nostalgia, Arjun Tendulkar, son of India’s legendary Sachin Tendulkar has registered himself with a base price of 20 lakhs. His recent participation in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy for Mumbai made him available for the auction.
IPL auction 2021
Base price: 2 Crore
Steve Smith had been released by the Rajasthan Royals Management following his poor showing in the IPL last season. Another big-name player to join him is his compatriot Glen Maxwell who also had a shocking season.
Shakib al Hasan will be a player in demand recently making his comeback to international cricket after 1 year for failing to report a corrupt approach during the IPL 2019 season.
Base price: 1.5 Crore
The English opener is currently the world’s best T20 batsmen based on ICC ranking, posting phenomenal stats with an avg of 53.43 at a strike rate of 149.47 from 19 International T20’s. Jhye Richardson should also catch the eye of franchises, coming off an excellent showing in the recently concluded BBL being the highest wicket-taker in the series. Alex Hales also looks to be in supreme touch playing Sydney Thunders. The 32-year-old accumulated 534 runs from 53 matches at a strike rate of 161.60
Base price: 1 Crore
Australian Batsmen Marnus Labuschagne has expressed his desire to play in the ‘great’ Indian premier league and has set his base price at 1 Cr, his recent showing in the test match series against India may help attract few teams. Finch didn’t have a particularly good season with the bat playing for the Bangalore Royal Challengers and as a result, was let go. Yet teams have to be varied in overlooking his talent.
Stay tuned to Cricwizz for more updates on the IPL 2021 Auction
