The Indian Premier League (IPL) mini-auction to be held here on Friday could see 10 franchises vying to buy players like Ben Stokes, Sam Karen, Cameron Green and Mayank Agarwal. In this mini auction, 405 cricketers will be bidding for a total of 87 vacancies including 30 overseas players. Former South African all-rounder Chris Morris was bought for the highest price in the history of the IPL auction so far. Rajasthan Royals bought him in 2021 for Rs 16.25 crore.
Morris is now retired. Karen, who was voted the best player of the T20 World Cup 2022, is likely to get a hefty bid. He is 24 years old now and the team will try to rope him in with the hope of retaining him for a long time. Karen was bought by Punjab Kings in 2019 for a hefty price. After this he joined Chennai Super Kings. Chennai will try to add him to their team again. Karen, who has missed the 2022 season due to a back injury, has a base price of Rs 2 crore. The all-rounders have been placed in the second set for the bid.
Apart from Karen, his country’s Test captain Ben Stokes and in-form batsman Harry Brook may also cost heavily. Brook has already proved his worth in limited overs as he recently scored centuries in all three Tests against Pakistan. Stokes has a base price of Rs 2 crore while Brook has a base price of Rs 1.5 crore. All eyes will also be on Australian all-rounder Cameron Green. He did well opening the innings for Australia during the limited overs series in India earlier this year.
Other big names in the auction include New Zealand captain Kane Williamson. His base price is Rs 2 crore. Sunrisers Hyderabad had ‘released’ Williamson and Nicholas Pooran of the West Indies. Former England captain Joe Root is also among the registered players. Zimbabwean all-rounder Sikandar Raza can also attract franchise teams. He has done well in T20 cricket in the last 12 months. Among the Indian players, the franchises may show more interest in Mayank Agarwal, who is running out of the Test team. His base price is Rs 1 crore.
Punjab Kings released him earlier this year and appointed Shikhar Dhawan as the captain. Experienced fast bowlers Ishant Sharma and Jaydev Unadkat will be available for the teams in the Indian fast bowlers. Fast bowlers Shivam Mavi and Yash Thakur are also included in the list of Indian players (uncapped) who have not played international cricket. Tamil Nadu batsman N Jagadishan can also fetch a handsome price after scoring five consecutive hundreds in List A cricket.
