ROOKIES MAY RULE THE SHOW HIGH ROLLERS (BASE OF `2 CRORE)

A total of 357 players will be up for grabs in the auction out of an original pool of 799. Of these, 226 are Indian players.

With the Indian Premier League franchisees entering the last year of their decade-long deal, the 2017 player auction has all the makings of becoming the most understated one in the history of the competition.

As uncertainty looms over the future of the league and teams, brought on chiefly by the lack of clarity of the plans ahead, it’s unlikely that the teams will splurge like they have in the past. While there has been a growing trend, with few notable exceptions, towards choosing the ‘moneyball’ route, this edition of the auction might just showcase the best use of it yet. That said, short term vision can also lead to players walking home with a bag of cash. With 357 players set to go under the hammer, it’s more than likely that the Indian players, more importantly the uncapped ones, will be the biggest winners at the auction.

With impressive performances during the domestic season and for India U-19, fast bowler T Natrajan, wicketkeeperbatsman Vishnu Vinod, spinner K Gowtham, opener Tanmay Agarwal, Ishank Jaggi, Harpreet Singh (top two scorers in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy) and the precocious 17year-old batsman Prithvi Shaw among others fresh in the memory, the young brigade are set to be the biggest gainers. There is also the curious case of Pawan Negi. The talented but inconsistent all-rounder was bought for a whopping Rs 8.5 crore by Delhi Daredevils but finds himself in the auction at a base price of 30 lakh.