IPL 2021: Mitchell Starc, Joe Root out; Arjun Tendulkar, Sreesanth register for player auction

England Test skipper Joe Root and Australian speedster Mitchell Starc opted out while returning from their respective bans, Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan and India’s S Sreesanth were among the 1097 players who registered for the Indian Premier League auction to be held in Chennai on February 18, reported PTI.

Left-arm pacer Arjun Tendulkar, son of Sachin Tendulkar, also enrolled in the auction with a base price of Rs 20 lakh.

A total of 814 players from India and 283 from overseas registered for the auction with most entries coming from the West Indies (56) followed by Australia (42) and South Africa (38).

While Starc, who last played in the T20 league in 2015, missed out once more, Root – centurion on the first day of the ongoing opening Test against India – didn’t enroll for the second successive time, joining fellow England players Harry Gurney and Tom Banton, who also did not register.

Australian pacer James Pattinson, who played a crucial role in Mumbai Indians’ title-run last year, is a prominent absentee as well.

Shakib, who served a suspension by the International Cricket Council for not reporting a corrupt approach, listed at the highest base price of Rs 2 crore, while Sreesanth, who returned to cricket after seven years in the recent Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 for Kerala, set his base price at Rs 75 lakh, according to ESPNCricinfo. The 37-year-old pacer was initially banned for life by BCCI for his role in the spot-fixing scandal in the 2013 IPL but the ban was reduced to seven years in August 2019.

Top Australian draws like Steve Smith and Glenn Maxwell were released from Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab respectively on the last day of the retention deadline on January 20. The other notable names to be released were Chris Morris, Harbhajan Singh and Aaron Finch. A total of 139 players were retained by the franchises and 57 players were releases.

Harbhajan Singh, Kedar Jadhav, Steven Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Moeen Ali, Sam Billings, Jason Roy, Mark Wood, Liam Plunkett and Colin Ingram all set their base price at Rs 2 crore.

Hanuma Vihari (Rs 1 crore) and Cheteshwar Pujara (Rs 50 lakh), who played pivotal roles in India’s incredible 2-1 Test win over Australia, also registered for the auction.

The current No 1 T20 batsman in the world, England’s Dawid Malan might make his debut in IPL as he also registered for the auction at a base price of Rs 1.5 crore. Among others to list at the same price are Alex Carey, Tom Curran, Mitchell Swepson, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Alex Hales, Jhye Richardson, Adil Rashid, David Willey, Adam Lyth and Lewis Gregory.

The player registration deadline closed on Thursday and the list comprises 207 international players including 21 capped Indians.

Twenty-seven players will represent the associate nations and 863 uncapped cricketers, including 743 Indians and 68 overseas. The number of uncapped Indians who have played at least one IPL game stands at 50 and two for overseas uncapped players.

“If every franchise were to have the maximum of 25 players in their squad, 61 players will be taken in the auction (of which up to 22 may be overseas players),” read the IPL statement on Friday.

The auction, scheduled a day after the second Test between India and England, will start at 3pm local time.

Kings XI Punjab go into the auction with the biggest purse available at with Rs 53.20 crore, followed by RCB (Rs 35.90 crore), RR (Rs 34.85 crore), CSK (Rs 22.90 crore), MI (Rs 15.35 crore), DC (Rs 12.9 crore) and Rs 10.75 crore each for KKR and SRH.

The 2020 edition was held in the UAE due to the pandemic but the upcoming edition is likely to be played in India.

With PTI Inputs