The countdown has begun for the IPL 2024 auction, which is going to be probably the biggest mini-auction in recent years, given the number of big names in the pool available to be bid on December 19 in Dubai. The franchises didn't apply caution in releasing players this time as some of them have let go of nearly half their squads. Consequently, the purses are big, which promise some exciting auction table battles as the likes of Mitchell Starc, Travis Head and Rachin Ravindra, the stars of World Cup 2023 have put their name for the upcoming auction.
As per a Cricbuzz report, 1,166 players have registered for IPL 2024 auction, of which 830 are Indian and 336 are overseas. 25 players have enrolled themselves in the top bracket of INR 2 crore as their base price, which includes seven of Australia's World Cup-winning members and four Indians. Mitchell Starc, Steve Smith, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Sean Abbott and Pat Cummins will have the highest base price while the Indians include Harshal Patel, Umesh Yadav, Kedar Jadhav and Shardul Thakur.
World Cup star Rachin Ravindra has kept himself in the INR 50 Lakh bracket while the biggest surprise was the absence of Jofra Archer from the list, as per the report. Archer was bought by Mumbai Indians in the mega auction ahead of 2022 edition and having missed the tournament last year, the England pacer played the IPL 2023 for just five matches before his season was cut short by another injury.
Gerald Coetzee, South Africa's leading wicket-taker in World Cup 2023, Lockie Ferguson, Harry Brook, Rilee Rossouw and Angelo Mathews among others have also kept their base price at INR 2 crore.
The registration list of over 1100 players will be further trimmed with the IPL asking the franchises to submit shortlists of players they want to be presented in the auction.
A total of 77 slots have to be filled of which 30 are overseas players with INR 262.95 crore at disposal for the 10 teams.
