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.
The two-day mega auction will see 10 franchises bidding for some of the top cricketers in world cricket to bolster their squad after having finalized their retentions and picks earlier. The players list incorporates 270 capped, 903 uncapped and 41 Associate players.
Of the 318 overseas stars, the most are, unsurprisingly, from Australia – 59; Mitchell Starc, though, has once again stepped away from putting his name in the IPL auction.
Next on the tally are 48 players from South Africa who are hoping for a lucrative IPL contract, so are the 41 registered players from West Indies and the 36 cricketers from Sri Lanka.
30 English players have also been added to the pool. However, their Test captain Joe Root, superstar all-rounder Ben Stokes, speedster Jofra Archer, all-rounders Sam Curran, Tom Curran and Chris Woakes have opted out of the IPL 2022 for various reasons.
New Zealand (29), Afghanistan (20), Bangladesh (9) are the other countries from where numerous players have registered their names.
Players from smaller cricketing nations like Nepal (15), USA (14), Namibia (5) and Oman (3), while one each from Bhutan, Netherlands, Scotland, and UAE, will be given the opportunity to bag an IPL contract on the auction day.
Here’s the country-wise breakdown of 318 overseas players:
- Australia: 59
- South Africa: 48
- West Indies: 41
- Sri Lanka: 36
- England: 30
- New Zealand: 29
- Afghanistan: 20
- Nepal: 15
- USA: 14
- Bangladesh: 9
- Namibia: 5
- Ireland: 3
- Oman: 3
- Zimbabwe: 2
- Bhutan: 1
- Netherlands: 1
- Scotland: 1
- UAE: 1
An IPL franchise can have a maximum of 25 players in their squad.
A total of 33 players have been retained/picked ahead of the auction. The existing 8 IPL franchises have retained a total of 27 players while the 2 new IPL teams – Lucknow and Ahmedabad – have picked 3 players each.
If every franchise were to have the maximum of 25 players in their squad, 217 players will be bought in the auction, of which up to 70 may be overseas players.
This will be the first mega auction conducted since 2018.
