The Indian Premier League (IPL) Player Registration got closed on Friday, with a whopping 1122 players signing up to be a part of the mega IPL Player Auction 2018 scheduled to be held in Bengaluru on January 27 and 28 respectively.
As has been the trend over the last 10 seasons, star cricketers and emerging talents all across the world have once again converged to add sparkle to the upcoming 11th edition of IPL.
The complete list consisting of 281 capped players, 838 uncapped players, including 778 Indians and three players from the Associate nations, has been sent out to the eight IPL franchises.
A fierce bidding war is expected to break out when Indian stars Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ajinkya Rahane, Kuldeep Yadav, KL Rahul and Murali Vijay will go under the hammer.
The franchises will leave no stone unturned when Chris Gayle, Ben Stokes, Chris Lynn, Eoin Morgan, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins come up for the IPL Player Auction 2018.
England’s Test captain Joe Root has also thrown his hat into the ring and will be the new entrant to the world’s most popular T20 tournament.
Dwayne Bravo, Carlos Brathwaite, Evin Lewis and Jason Holder will add the Caribbean flavor to the league.
Showing his full range of strokes will be Glenn Maxwell, all-rounder Shane Watson and Mitchell Johnson, who bowled Mumbai Indians for their third title last year with his final over heroics.
Hashim Amla, who hit two centuries for Kings XI Punjab in the 10th season will be hoping for a high bid with compatriots Faf du Plessis, Quinton de Kock, David Miller and speedsters Morne Morkel and Kagiso Rabada.
Kane Williamson, Colin Munro and Tom Latham from New Zealand will add their charm to the league.
Australia’s D’Arcy Short and young Barbadian cricketer Jofra Archer will be hoping to cash in on their recent T20 form.
Here’s the country-wise breakdown of all 282 overseas players:
- Afghanistan – 13
- Australia – 58
- Bangladesh – 8
- England – 26
- Ireland – 2
- New Zealand – 30
- Scotland – 1
- South Africa – 57
- Sri Lanka – 39
- USA – 2
- West Indies – 39
- Zimbabwe – 7
