On Saturday, the BCCI announced the final list of a total of 1,214 players that have been registered for the upcoming IPL 2022 mega-auction next month. Of these, 896 are Indians and 318 are overseas players.
A final, trimmed list will be prepared by the IPL governing council ahead of the event, scheduled to take place next month in Bangalore on February 12 and 13, once the franchises send back their wishlists.
For now, a total of 49 players have listed their base price at the maximum bracket of INR 2 crore. Among these, there are plenty of big names, including Ravichandran Ashwin, Shreyas Iyer, Shikhar Dhawan, Ishan Kishan, Suresh Raina, Pat Cummins, Adam Zampa, Steven Smith, Shakib Al Hasan, Mark Wood, Trent Boult, Faf du Plessis, Quinton de Kock, Kagiso Rabada and Dwayne Bravo.
However, there are 6 big names who have withdrawn from this year’s tournament owing to various reasons:
Mitchell Starc
Australia fast bowler Mitchell Starc was pondering over his return to the IPL; he last featured in the league in 2015, playing for RCB. However, he has since missed the tournament every year, either due to injury or opted out to take a rest to be fresh for international games.
Speaking before the fifth Ashes Test, Starc had said that the IPL was “certainly on the table” but finally opted out, turning himself away from the millions he could have fetched at the auction table.
Sam Curran
England all-rounder Sam Curran pulled out of the mega auction as he is still in the process of recovering from the lower-back injury he had sustained during last season’s IPL in the UAE.
Curran, who had a couple of remarkable seasons for CSK, then missed the T20 World Cup and has still not completely recovered from the injury.
Before the last two seasons with CSK, Sam Curran was with Punjab. In 3 seasons he has played a total of 32 matches, in which he averages 22 with the bat, while striking at 149, to go with 32 wickets with the ball.
Ben Stokes
Arguably the best all-rounder in the world, Ben Stokes has decided to give this year’s IPL a skip. Stokes, who was brought by Rajasthan Royals for INR 12.5 crore, injured himself in the first match last season and missed the entire tournament.
He moved away from the game for a few months to tend to this mental wellbeing and recover from the finger injury before making his return in the recently-concluded Ashes.
Ben Stokes, and Test captain Joe Root, opted out of the auction as both have decided to play in the County Championship to prepare for the home Test series against New Zealand in the summer. This decision of the pair comes after the Ashes debacle in Australia.
The absence of Ben Stokes, the MVP in IPL 2017 and a leading all-rounder, is big miss for the IPL fans.
Chris Gayle
Rajasthan Royals speedster Jofra Archer missed the entire IPL 2021 and the series following that – including the T20 World Cup and the Ashes – due to his long-standing elbow injury troubles.
Archer underwent a second elbow operation last year and is in the rehabilitation process. The England pacer is hopeful of making a comeback in the away Test series against West Indies in March 2022.
Chris Woakes had an impressive year in T20 cricket last year. He took 5 wickets in 3 IPL matches for Delhi Capitals and was drafted into England’s T20 World Cup squad, where regularly provided his side with opening strikes.
However, Woakes had a poor Ashes tour and will be focussing on international matches.
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