R Ashwin, Trent Boult, Pat Cummins, Quinton de Kock, Shikhar Dhawan, Faf du Plessis, Shreyas Iyer, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Shami and David Warner. These ten players will be part of the marquee set that will ring in the 2022 IPL mega auction, which this time will be a two-day event, scheduled on February 12 and 13 in Bengaluru.
On Tuesday, the IPL sent out its final auction list, which has been halved from the original longlist of 1214 players to a pruned version, based on the wishlists of the ten franchises, comprising 590 players. This final list includes 44 new names that were registered in the auction pool upon the request of the franchises.
Archer enters auction, but unlikely for 2022 season
One of those 44 happens to be the England fast bowler Jofra Archer, who the ECB recently said is in the final stages of his recovery from elbow surgery, with a planned return to all cricket in June. In the email sent to franchises on Tuesday, which has been seen by ESPNcricinfo, the IPL chief operating officer Hemang Amin has said that Archer would be part of the accelerated set of players, which will commence from Player No. 161.
Amin also said the ECB had made it clear that Archer was "unlikely" to play in IPL 2022 and if any franchise picks him and he doesn't turn up, they would not be able to get a replacement. "The ECB has registered Jofra Archer for the auction with a view to potential participation in 2023 and 2024, as due to his current injury it is unlikely that he can participate in IPL 2022," Amin said. "Therefore, his name has been included in the auction list, but he won't feature in the marquee or other sets to be presented. He will be available to be called during the accelerated auction and whoever picks him will not get a replacement player for IPL 2022 season for his place as he is already injured and unlikely to participate in IPL 2022 season."
Of the 590, there are 228 capped players, 355 uncapped, and seven from Associate countries. Following the marquee players, the auction will alternate between sets of capped and uncapped players. The order will be batters, allrounders, wicketkeeper-batters, fast bowlers and spin bowlers.
There are several players in the first round - capped and uncapped - who could potentially end up being among the biggest buys this auction. This includes the India wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan, who decided to enter the auction despite both the new IPL teams - Lucknow Supergiants and the Ahmedabad team - learnt to have expressed strong interest in acquiring him pre-auction.
Other key names in this first round of capped players include Harshal Patel, IPL 2021's highest wicket-taker, Australia allrounder Mitchell Marsh, the player of the T20 World Cup final, West Indies white-ball vice-captain Nicholas Pooran, young India opener Devdutt Padikkal, and allrounder Jason Holder, who this week set records in the T20I series against England including becoming the first West Indies player to bag a hat-trick in the format. There are also experienced hands and T20 stars in the first round including India wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik, former West Indies allrounder Dwayne Bravo, and former India allrounder Suresh Raina.
Another player who is likely to attract attention is the 18-year-old Dewald Brevis, who recently made headlines with his batting exploits for South Africa at the Under-19 World Cup. He is currently the tournament's leading run-getter, with 368 runs from five matches at an average of 73.60, and six-hitter, having cleared the rope 11 times. Scores of 65, 104, 96 and 97 in his first four innings made him the first South Africa batter to make four successive 50-plus scores at an Under-19 World Cup. He has also bowled 30.5 overs of legspin, picking up seven wickets, the second-most for South Africa.
Brevis, nicknamed "Baby AB", has caught the eye of several franchises, who have told ESPNcricinfo that his fluent technique makes him a good buy with an eye on the future.
Odean Smith cuts his base price, Shahrukh increases his
West Indies' Odean Smith, who had originally listed his base price in the highest bracket of INR 2 crore in the auction longlist, has now cut it down to INR 1 crore. The 25-year-old big-hitting allrounder made a splash in the CPL and more recently in the T10 league and in white-ball cricket for West Indies. He was a net bowler for Kolkata Knight Riders last season, along with left-arm fingerspinner Akeal Hosein, but is yet to make it to an IPL franchise's main squad.
Tamil Nadu batter Shahrukh Khan, who has been added to India's squad for the T20I series against West Indies as a standby, features among the first round of uncapped players, which will start from Player No. 55. Shahrukh, tall and muscular, is rated by IPL franchises as one of the most powerful finishers in domestic cricket and is likely to be one of the biggest buys in the uncapped category.
Shahrukh has increased his base price from INR 20 lakh to INR 40 lakh, after having reportedly rejected a deal from his previous franchise Punjab Kings. Shahrukh powered Tamil Nadu to the 20-over Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy title earlier this year with a last-ball six in the final, and also impressed during the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy that followed.
With inputs from Deivarayan Muthu