IPL 2020 auction: Focus on top international players
What's the story
The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 auction is set to be held on December 19.
This comes after the eight teams submitted their final list of retained and released players last month.
Teams will now need to use their auction purse well.
Several top international stars have set their base price.
Here we look at the same.
The offer
971 players to battle it out for 73 spots
A total of 971 players (713 Indians and 258 overseas players) have registered for the upcoming IPL 2020 auction.
Out of the 971 players, there are a total of 196 capped internationals in the mix.
19 capped Indians are in the fray.
There are 634 uncapped Indian players and 60 uncapped foreigners on offer as well.
Starc
Starc opts out for second season running
Australian premier pacer Mitchell Starc has opted out of the IPL for a second successive year.
Last season, he was recovering from an injury ahead of the IPL 2019 auction and had decided to skip the event in order to give priority to Australia's World Cup 2019 campaign.
Starc, who has been in excellent form of late, had last featured in IPL 2015.
Aussie stars
These Aussie stars have Rs. 2 crore base price
Chris Lynn, who was surprisingly left out by Kolkata Knight Riders, has set his base price at the maximum of Rs. 2 crore.
Glenn Maxwell, who is currently battling mental health issues, has also set his price at Rs. 2 crore.
The other Australian stars available at Rs. 2 crore are fast bowlers Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and all-rounder Mitchell Marsh.
Information
Root is another notable absentee
A total of 22 players from England have registered for the auction. Joe Root is a notable name missing. Root is yet to make his IPL debut He had set a base price of Rs. 1.5 crore last season. However, he found no takers.
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Steyn, Mathews and Morris are some big names
Meanwhile, South African speedster Dale Steyn and veteran Lankan ace Angelo Mathews have set their base price at the maximum of Rs. 2 crore. All-rounder Chris Morris, who was released by Delhi Capitals, is in the mix as well.