New Delhi, February 5 (IndiaToday) – In a statistic that highlights the popularity of the Indian Premier League and the tough competition that it is, a total of 1097 cricketers have registered their names for the mini-auction that will take place in Chennai on February 18.
This is when a maximum of 61 spots are to be filled if we add up the vacant slots in each time and assume that each franchise will try to fill that up.
Of the 1097 cricketers, 814 players are from India, while 283 players are from the other nations.
After the Indian players who have registered their names for the auction, West Indies with 56 cricketers is the next highest nation with players wanting to play the league. Australia with 42 players comes in next in the list.
Among these 1097 players, 207 are capped players while 863 are uncapped and 27 are from Associate nations.
Sreesanth wants to play the IPL again
The biggest surprise on the list has to be the name of Indian pacer Shanthakumaran Sreesanth. The bowler from Kerala has put in his name after the Supreme Court lifted his life ban for spot-fixing in IPL.
Two surprise omissions this year are the names of Mitchell Starc and Dale Steyn. Both fast bowlers, perhaps the best at their peak, have decided to not play the tournament this time around.
“The IPL Player Registration closed on 4th February, 2021 with 1097 players (814 Indian and 283 overseas players) signing up to be a part of the IPL 2021 Player Auction set to take place in Chennai on 18th February. The auction will begin from 3pm onwards,” a BCCI release stated.
“The players list incorporates 207 capped, 863 uncapped and 27 Associate players. The detailed list is: capped Indian (21 players), capped International (186 players), Associate (27 players), Uncapped Indian players who have played at least 1 IPL match (50 players), Overseas uncapped players who have played at least 1 IPL match (2 players), Uncapped Indians (743 players) and Uncapped International (68 players),” the release added.
