England fast bowler Jofra Archer is a surprise inclusion for the IPL’s mega auction, which will be held in Bangalore on February 12 and 13. The Barbados-born cricketer has been listed with a reserve price of Rs 2 crore.
Hemang Amin, IPL’s chief operating officer, in an email to the franchises has, however, made it clear that he is “unlikely” to play in the 2022 edition and a franchise won’t be entitled to a replacement once they pick him.
“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,” Amin wrote. “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.”
Apart from Archer, Australia batsman Usman Khawaja has made himself available at a reserve price of Rs 1.5 crore. The list has 44 new additions based on the wishlist of the franchises. One notable absentee is Chris Gayle who is learnt to have not shown interest despite requests from at least two franchises to the BCCI on his inclusion. There were also similar requests for Ben Stokes and Mitchell Starc.
Among the 48 big names who have bracketed themselves in the marquee Rs 2 crore list are Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Faf du Plessis, Kagiso Rabada, Pat Cummins, Quinton de Kock, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Mohammed Shami and David Warner.
One of the players who could end up with a huge sum and is on the marquee list is Jharkhand’s Ishan Kishan. Most of the franchises are keen on him and he is being seen as a potential captain in the near future.
Other key names in this first round of capped players include last season’s highest wicket-taker Harshal Patel, Australia all-rounder Mitchell Marsh, West Indies all-rounder Jason Holder and young opener Devdutt Padikkal.
The franchises have been told that the auction “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”.
The final list has been pruned to 590 players (370 Indian, 220 overseas) from the original 1214 based on the wishlists of the 10 franchises. This includes 228 capped players, 355 uncapped and seven from Associate nations. There are 20 players who have a reserve price of Rs 1.5 crore besides another 34 with a base price of Rs 1 crore.
There also seems to be uncertainty over the availability of England and Australian players this year. While the English players are expected to miss the playoffs because of the three-Test series against New Zealand at home, the Aussies are likely to be in Pakistan from March 29 to April 5 for a limited-overs series.
The 15th edition of the IPL is set to begin on March 27.
