Starc withdraws from IPL 2020, Maxwell back in auction pool
Mumbai, India - Australia's Glenn Maxwell and Chris Lynn are among seven players who have listed their base price at the maximum of (US$279,000 approx.) for the IPL 2020 auction, scheduled for December 19 in Kolkata.
Fellow Australian Mitchell Starc, the highest wicket-taker in the last two 50-over World Cups, was a notable absentee, as was England's Test captain Joe Root, who were not among the 971 players to have registered for the auction.
Apart from Maxwell and Lynn, the others to list their base price at are Australia fast bowlers Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, Australia allrounder Mitchell Marsh, South Africa quick Dale Steyn, and Sri Lanka batsman Angelo Mathews.
Starc, the 29 year old left-arm quick, has now opted out of the IPL for the second successive season. Starc last featured in the league in 2015, when he represented Royal Challengers Bangalore.
In the 2018 IPL auction, Starc had been signed by Kolkata Knight Riders, but he was sidelined from the entire tournament because of an injury.
Along with Starc, Maxwell and Aaron Finch had also pulled out of the previous auction. Both Maxwell and Finch are back in the auction pool this time.
Maxwell had recently taken a break to deal with 'his mental health issues', but made a positive return to club cricket on November 23. No time frame has been set by Cricket Australia for his national team return, but Maxwell putting his name up for the auction comes as an encouraging sign. Maxwell has been part of Kings XI Punjab, Mumbai Indians and Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) in the past. In all, Maxwell has scored 1,397 runs in the IPL at an average of 22.9 and strike rate of 161.13.
Other overseas big names in the auction list includes South Africa allrounder Chris Morris, who became the only retained player in 2018 to be released ahead of the upcoming auction.
Among Indian players, Robin Uthappa has listed his base price at (US$209,000 approx.). Uthappa and leg-spinner Piyush Chawla had been bought back by Knight Riders via the right-to-match card option in the IPL 2018 auction. However, diminishing returns from the two seniors prompted the franchise to release them.
Of the English contingent, Tom Banton, who recently made his international debut and was later in action in the T10 league, has entered the IPL auction pool for the first time.
The 21 year old has listed his base price at (US$139,500 approx.). Also in the fray will be England's World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan, who went unsold in the 2019 auction. He has set his base price at RS 15mn.
The auction, which will be held in Kolkata for the first time, will not be a massive affair, considering teams will overhaul their squads once again ahead of the mega auction in 2021.
This auction will mostly be about plugging gaps and hiring back-ups.
Also, with the IPL capping squad strengths at 25, only 73 slots remain for the eight franchises to fill up. Out of these, up to 29 can be overseas players.
On Monday, the IPL sent the player longlist to the franchises, asking them to submit the names they would want to be retained before the final auction list is prepared.
Incidentally, none of the 19 capped Indian players have listed their base price at 196 capped overseas players and two Associate players will also be up for grabs.