Today, the Indian Premier tournament released a media advisory that included all the information on the much-awaited blockbuster auction for the 18th edition of the lucrative tournament.
The announcement stated that on November 24 and 25, the massive auction will take place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Following the official closing of entries on November 4, 2024, a staggering 1574 players registered for the competition. There are 409 international players and 1165 Indian players participating in the auction.
The break-up of the total registrations is as follows –
Uncapped Players: 1,224
Players from Associate Nations: 30
Out of the 320 players, 272 are capped from abroad, while 48 are Indian. The uncapped players are as follows: 152 are Indians who participated in previous IPL seasons; 3 are internationals who participated in previous IPL seasons; 104 are uncapped internationals; and 965 are uncapped Indians.
The country-wise breakdown of the 409 overseas players is as follows:
Country | Number of Players |
South Africa | 91 |
Australia | 76 |
England | 52 |
New Zealand | 39 |
West Indies | 33 |
Sri Lanka | 29 |
Afghanistan | 29 |
Bangladesh | 13 |
USA | 10 |
Ireland | 9 |
Zimbabwe | 8 |
Canada | 4 |
Scotland | 2 |
UAE | 1 |
Italy | 1 |
Given that each franchise can only have a maximum of 25 players, the press release, which has been confirmed by Jay Shah, Honorary Secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), also claims that 204 spots would be up for grabs at the mega auction.
For those who haven’t heard, the franchises’ deadline to finalise their retentions has already passed, and each side has submitted their retentions.
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The main takeaway from that day was the large number of cases where important players were let go by their teams. When the event takes place later this month, it will be interesting to see how each side ultimately plays out.