Yuvraj Singh and Ishant Sharma are in a group of eight marquee players in this year’s auction © AFP
Ishant Sharma, Shane Watson, Kevin Pietersen, Yuvraj Singh, Dale Steyn, Aaron Finch, Martin Guptill and Dwayne Smith have been listed as the eight marquee players in the IPL 2016 player auction which will be held on February 6 in Bangalore. A total of 351 players, including 230 Indian and 121 foreign cricketers, will go into the auction.
The shortlist of 351 players was trimmed down from a pool of 714 cricketers. Of the 351 players, 130 are capped, 219 are uncapped and two are Associate players. A maximum of 116 players can be chosen at the auction.
Ishant, Watson, Pietersen and Yuvraj are among 12 players with a base price of INR 2 crore (approx $296,000). Ashish Nehra, Dhawal Kulkarni, Sanju Samson, Dinesh Karthik and Stuart Binny are the other Indians with the same base price. Among overseas players, Michael Hussey, Kane Richardson and Mitchell Marsh have attracted the top reserve price.
Delhi Daredevils have the maximum funds remaining, INR 37.15 crore (approx. $5.47 million), having released 13 of their players from last year’s squad including Yuvraj and Angelo Mathews. In 2015, Yuvraj was the most expensive buy for the second consecutive auction after the Daredevils raised the bid price to INR 16 crore ($2.3 million). Daredevils also paid INR 7.5 crore ($1.1 million) for Mathews.
Following is the purse remaining with the each of the other seven franchises:
Kings XI Punjab (INR 23 crore), Kolkata Knight Riders (INR 17.95 crore), Mumbai Indians (INR 14.405 crore), Royal Challengers Bangalore (INR 21.625 crore), Sunrisers Hyderabad (INR 30.15 crore), Rising Pune Super Giants (INR 27 crore), Rajkot (INR 27 crore)
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo