The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2019 auction will take place on December 18 in Jaipur and the momentum has already picked up with over 1000 cricketers registering their names for the upcoming event.
Most of the players have opted for a reasonable higher base price to stake up their market value and it’ll be interesting to see if the franchises appreciate that or not.
Among the Indians, Yuvraj Singh – after a dismal IPL 2018 – will enter the auction with a base price of Rs 1 crore.
On the other hand, Jaydev Unadkat, the most expensive Indian player from last season, has kept his base price at Rs 1.5 crore despite failing to live up to the expectation while playing for the Rajasthan Royals. Ishant Sharma who has only been representing the Indian Test team decided to keep his base price to Rs 75 Lakhs. Among youngsters, the most surprising retention of the last year Sarfraz Khan who was eventually released by Royal Challengers Bangalore is available for a minimum of Rs 20 lakhs.
Other names featuring on that list are all-rounder Axar Patel, who was released by Kings XI Punjab, wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha who last represented Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Delhi pacer Mohammed Shami. All the three players were not retained by their respective team for different reasons.
Axar didn’t justify his place in the Punjab team given his experience and the fact that he had to play the role of an all-rounder contributing with both the trades. SRH placed a huge bet on Saha and backed him throughout the season. He first failed to come true to the expectations and the fact that he hasn’t played any cricket this year nursing an injury made matters worse.
Meanwhile, Shami’s performances in IPL 2018 didn’t inspire enough faith among the newly named Delhi Capitals to continue to back him.
Here’s the base prices of top Indian cricketers for IPL 2019 auction:
