IPL 2022: From Ashwin, Warner to uncapped players, a complete breakdown of mega auction shortlist

Change is in the air. Indian Premier League will have 10 men’s teams from 2022 onward, with a near complete reset of the player rosters coming up.

Top Indian players, including senior opener Shikhar Dhawan and Shreyas Iyer, along with overseas stars Pat Cummins and Kagiso Rabada have been bracketed in the Rs 2 crore highest base price category for the upcoming IPL mega auction.

A total of 370 Indian players and 220 overseas players will be up for recruitment in what promises to be an action-packed IPL 2022 Player Auction in Bengaluru.

The auction is scheduled to be held in Bengaluru on February 12 and 13, the league announced on Tuesday.

IPL 2022: Ashwin, Warner among the big names as BCCI announces 590 players in auction list

There will be 590 players who will go under the hammer during the two-day auction. The IPL announced the final auction list on Tuesday.

Among the 590 players, a total of 228 are capped players, 355 are uncapped and seven belong to associate nations.

IPL 2022 player auction: From Ashwin to Warner, here are the 10 players listed in marquee set

Senior India pacers Mohammad Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Devdutt Padikal, leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal and fast bowler Shardul Thankur are also in the top bracket of Rs 2 crore base price.

The Australian duo of all-rounder Mitchell Marsh and Steve Smith have also put themselves in top bracket with Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan.

An amount of Rs 2 crore is the highest reserve price and as many as 48 players have chosen to place themselves in this bracket. There are 20 players in the auction list with a reserve price of Rs 1.5 crore while 34 players are in the list of cricketers with a reserve price of Rs 1 crore.

The IPL announced a shortlist of nearly 600 players for the two-day auction. Here’s a breakdown of the list based on base price:

Ashwin Ravichandran, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shreyas Iyer, Mohammed Shami and Shikhar Dhawan are some of the biggest Indians names with the highest base price in the pool. They’re all proven performers in the IPL and one can expect them to be picked for huge prices.

Then there are the likes of Ishan Kishan, Shardul Thakur Deepak Chahar, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel and Devdutt Padikkal who also have a base price of Rs 2 crore and should fetch high bids.

Among the overseas players with a base price of Rs 2 crore, Pat Cummins, David Warner, Faf du Plessis and Kagiso Rabada will be among the big draws. Jofra Archer is in the pool too but he won’t be available for IPL 2022 so it will be interesting to see how franchises approach him. Perhaps teams might bid cheap now and hope he returns later? It’s an interesting prospect.

Australia and England dominate this list, with Ben Stokes and Chris Gayle among the most notable absentees.

Senior Indian bowlers Ishant Sharma and Amit Mishra have a base price of Rs 1.5 crore but it is Washington Sundar who is likely to attract most interest in this bracket. The all-rounder has been away due to injury for some time and will be determined to make a mark in the T20 league once again.

Eoin Morgan, who led Kolkata Knight Riders to the IPL 2021 final is likely to be a big draw in this category of overseas capped players with a base price of Rs 1.5 crore. Nicholas Pooran had a shocking IPL 2021 season but he is a player with a high talent ceiling and will attract interests from teams, one would imagine. Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Jonny Bairstow and Aaron Finch are some of the other big names in this category.

Prasidh Krishna, who was part of India’s squad in South Africa recently, and T Natarajan are sure to attract interest with a base price of Rs 1 crore with Indian pacers usually highly sought after. This bracket has some interesting names with the likes of Manish Pandey, Nitish Rana, Kuldeep Yadav and Ajinkya Rahane in it.

In terms of overseas capped players with a base price of Rs 1 crore, Mohammad Nabi, Moises Henriques, Liam Livingstone, Mitchell Santner, Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen and Wanindu Hasaranga are likely to be in high demand.

This is a crucial list as it has plenty of capped Indian and overseas players with a relatively low base price of Rs 75 lakh. In terms of Indian players, Rahul Chahar and Navdeep Saini are the standout names, while a number of players from West Indies could be in demand too.

In the Rs 50 lakh base price bracket, Cheteshwar Pujara and S Sreesanth are two interesting names. But it’ll also be worth keeping an eye on Sri Lanka’s Charith Asalanka, Dushmantha Chameera, Chamika Karunaratne and Akila Dhananjaya, a group of players who have been impressive on the international stage recently.

Their base price of Rs 40 lakh may come as a surprise to many. The likes of Rahul Tripathi, Shahrukh Khan, Deepak Hooda, Shivam Mavi and Rahul Tewatia could go for a lot more.

Rajvardhan Hangargekar, who has impressed in the Under-19 World Cup with his raw pace and big hits, should find a team with a base price of Rs 30 lakh (and then some). Sheldon Jackson and Jalaj Saxena, two seasoned performers in Indian domestic cricket, will also be hoping to get picked. Noor Ahmad, a near mirror image of Rashid Khan, could be one to watch out for from Afghanistan.

As usual, this is the lengthiest list as plenty of names have entered in the lowest base price category but this is also where most teams will have a keen eye to pick up hidden gems. R Sai Kishore is perhaps the standout name here,

Hayden Kerr, Jason Sangha are a couple of interesting entries in this list after impressing in Big Bash League. But perhaps the one likely to generate most interest in this group is Dewald Brevis, the South Africa U19 captain who has been dubbed ‘Baby AB’ and played some breathtaking knocks at the World Cup. Two Namibia left-arm pacers who impressed at the World Cup last year are also featuring here.

Inputs from PTI