Mumbai: After the closure of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2019 player registration, a total of 1,003 players, including 232 overseas cricketers would take part in the forthcoming IPL player auction. Of 232 overseas players, 27 Afghans, 35 Australian, 10 Bangladeshi, 14 English, 17 Kiwis, 59 South African, 28 Sri Lankan, 33 West Indian, 5 Zimbabwean and one each from the USA, Netherlands, Ireland and Hong Kong have registered themselves to participate in the auctioning.
200 capped players, 800 uncapped and three players from Associate Nations aim to fill up the available 70 spots. Of the 800 uncapped, 746 are Indians. For the first time in the history of the IPL, cricketers from nine states including Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, and Puducherry have registered to get an opportunity to showcase their talent in the world’s biggest T20 tournament.
As the tournament prepares to enter its 12th edition, an independent fine art, classic car and charity auctioneer, Hugh Edmeades will be the new gavel master. With over 30 years of experience at Christie’s, Edmeades is set to engage the bidders from eight franchises. Franchises have been asked to send their shortlist of players that will make up the final auction list by December 10. The IPL 2019 player auction is set to take place on December 18.