Other Indian cricketers who are expected to fetch big amounts are Harbhajan Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, KL Rahul and Murali Vijay.

As far as international cricketers are concerned, leading the list are names like Chris Gayle and Ben Stokes. While Gayle wasn't retained by the Royal Challengers Bangalore for this season, Stokes, who played his maiden season of the IPL last year, had been the most expensive acquisition of IPL 2017.

England captain Joe Root features in this year's IPL auction for the very first time.

Among Australian cricketers, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins top the list, being the most feared pacers in international cricket. Glenn Maxwell, Shane Watson and Mitchell Johnson are other Australians who would be featuring in the auction.

From the Caribbean, Dwayne Bravo, Carlos Braithwaite, Evin Lewis and Jason Holder would be the most sought after players in the IPL 2018 auction.

The list of players on auction also includes players from Sri Lanka and New Zealand. Prominent Sri Lankan players who will undergo the hammer are Thisara Perera, Niroshan Dickwella, Lasith Malinga and skipper Angelo Mathews.

From the Blackcaps, skipper Kane Williamson, Colin Munro and Tom Latham will be the most important players in the auction.

South African players listed for the auction include Hashim Amla, Faf du Plesis, Quinton de Kock, David Miller, Kagiso Rabada and Morne Morkel.

Among the 282 overseas players registered for the auction, Australia tops the list with 58 players, followed by South Africa with 57 players. West Indies and Sri Lanka both have 39 players each while New Zealand has 30. Only 26 players from England have made it to the list.

Afghanistan and Ireland, the two countries that earned Test status last year, have entered 13 and 2 players respectively.