IPL 2021 Player Auction list announced; 292 players to go under hammer on February 18

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Thursday announced the IPL 2021 Player Auction list fielding a total of 292 cricketers who are all set to go under the hammer on February 18.

According to an official release by the body, a total of 1,114 cricketers had initially registered themselves for the auction, however, the pruned list was arrived at after the eight IPL franchises submitted their shortlisted players. A total of 164 Indian players, 125 overseas players, and 3 players from Associate Nations will be up for grabs in the IPL 2021 Player Auction in Chennai, as per BCCI.

"INR 2 crore is the highest reserve price and two Indian players – Harbhajan Singh and Kedar Jadhav – and eight overseas players – Glenn Maxwell, Steve Smith, Shakib Al Hasan, Moeen Ali, Sam Billings, Liam Plunkett, Jason Roy & Mark Wood have chosen to be slotted in the highest bracket," said the BCCI in the release.

As many as 11 cricketers are up for grabs at a base price of INR 1 crore. This includes SCG hero Hanuma Vihari and speedster Umesh Yadav. About 12 players are on the auction list with a base price of INR 1.5 crore.

For the auction, Bangalore has the highest number of available slots (13,) followed by Punjab (9), Rajasthan (8), and Kolkata (8) with Hyderabad (3) having the least amount of available spots.

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IPL 2021 auction on February 18

The BCCI on January 27 had confirmed the auction date after much speculation slating the IPL 2021 auction for February 18 in Chennai. In the mini-auction, as many as 139 cricketers were retained while 57 players parted ways with their franchises.

All the franchises will head into the IPL 2021 auction with a combined salary cap of ₹196.6 crores. When it comes to the balance of various franchises, Punjab has emerged at the top with the highest available balance after they released two of their costliest players from the previous edition of the tournament -- Glenn Maxwell and Sheldon Cottrell. With a remaining purse of ₹53.20 crores, they have ₹17.30 crore more to spend than second-placed Bangalore with ₹35.90 crores.

On the other hand, Kolkata and Hyderabad are among franchises with the smallest available balance in their coffers. Kolkata had retained 17 of their IPL 2020 players and Hyderabad had retained 22 cricketers ahead of the auction. Following this, both have a balance of ₹10.75 crore each in their salary caps. 

Check out the full list here

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(With Agency Inputs)