All eyes of world cricket will be on the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 auction on December 19. Though it's a mini-auction, 77 slots are to be filled from a bunch of 333 players. Out of 333 players, 214 are Indians and 119 are overseas players of which 2 players are from associate nations. The total capped players are 116, uncapped players are 215 and 2 from associate nations. A total of 30 overseas players are to be picked. Leading up to the IPL 2024 auction, all the talk about the prospective costliest bid has been surrounding overseas players.
Australia's Mitchell Starc has been primed to go for a big amount. However, former Indian cricket team coach and captain Anil Kumble feels that the Rs 20 crore mark will not be breached.
"No, I don't think the Rs 20-crore mark will be breached. This is where I feel in a squad of 25 players, where you have eight overseas players, the purse also needs to be one third for the overseas players," Anil Kumble said on Jio Cinema.
"I think that's something that should happen eventually. Otherwise, you will see a lot of disparity at the auction. I know the overseas fans won't be happy with what I am saying, but I think it's important that you look at that to be a benchmark."
Anil Kumble had an interesting suggestion in bridging the gap.
"You have a separate overseas purse, otherwise you will see this disparity of 50%, 60% of the squad where you have options for only four players," Anil Kumble added.
"With eight India players now part of the playing XI, that will help them, especially in these smaller auctions. There will be the challenge of bridging this gap and you will invariably go to the overseas players."
Players can start bidding for as little as Rs 2 crore, with the expectation that the top will command much larger sums. There is a lot of speculation about who will be rewarded handsomely.
This will be a mini-event, but there will undoubtedly be some large money thrown around and some significant moves made given the type of players that certain teams have released and some of the names that are up for grabs. This year's auction pool includes a number of nig names as well as some young names that could spark bidding wars.
With ANI inputs