22 English players on IPL 2020 auction table; Morgan, Roy, Woakes expected to fetch big money
The player auction shortlist for IPL 2020 has been finalised with 22 English and one Scottish player expected to go under the hammer on December 19.
England’s world cup winning captain Eoin Morgan, opener Jason Roy and all-rounders Chris Woakes and David Willey are the high-profile names on the list. All four have a base price of around £158,000.
Five England players – Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Jofra Archer (all Rajasthan Royals), Jonny Bairstow (Sunrisers Hyderabad) and Harry Gurney (Kolkata Knight Riders) – have already been retained by their respective franchises.
Jay Shah, the secretary of Board of Cricket Control in India, said the final list for auction was trimmed from the original list of 971 players.
“The final list also includes 24 new players that were added after those names were requested by the franchises,” Shah said.
This includes 21-year-old Surrey batsman Will Jacks, who scored a 25-ball century in a pre-season T10 match against Lancashire in the UAE. Jacks is expected to attract a bidding war.
Besides Jacks, the list includes five other uncapped English players – Laurie Evans, Benny Howell, James Fuller, George Garton and David Payne.
Scotland player George Munsey is also in the list with a base price of around £21,000.
Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Chris Lynn, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell (all Australia), Dale Steyn (South Africa) and Angelo Mathews (Sri Lanka) are slotted in the highest bracket with around £210,000 each.
The list has a total of 146 overseas players. Besides the 22 from England and one from Scotland, there are 35 from Australia, 23 from South Africa, 19 from West Indies, 18 from New Zealand, 14 from Sri Lanka, seven from Afghanistan, five from Bangladesh, and one each from United States of America and United Arab Emirates. There are 186 Indian players in the list.
A total of 73 slots are available for the eight teams to fill up, 29 of which could be overseas players. Although the main plan of most clubs would be to find suitable back-up players, some of the bigger names will be optimistic about securing big money.
Morgan had never been a hot prospect in the previous editions of the IPL, but he is likely to attract suitors this time following his excellent performance as Delhi Bulls captain in the Abu Dhabi T10 League. He amassed 175 runs in just six matches with a strike rate of 186.
Young wicket keeper-batsman Tom Banton will be another player to look out for. He was one of the stars of 2019 T20 Blast.
All-rounder Chris Jordan is another hot English player as his specialty in death bowling has already won praise globally.
There had been lukewarm response for English players in the IPL in the past due to the clash of national duty. The players have had to fly home early or join the team later in the past 12 editions. But, with England’s tour to Sri Lanka scheduled to end on 31 March and their three-Test series at home to West Indies not starting until the first week of June, it now opens up the chance for full participation in the seven-week IPL.
The fixture list is yet to be announced, but the tournament is likely to start in early April. The auction will start at 10am GMT on December 19.
The tournament will be a glorious opportunity for the players to prove their form and book a ticket to the T20 World Cup in Australia in October-November.
England roster for IPL 2020 auction
Batsmen
Eoin Morgan (£158,000)
Jason Roy (£158,000)
Tom Banton (£105,000)
Alex Hales (£105,000)
Laurie Evans (£42,000)
All-rounders
Chris Woakes (£158,000)
David Willey (£158,000)
Sam Curran (£105,000)
Tom Curran (£105,000)
Chris Jordan (£79,000)
Lewis Gregory (£52,000)
Ravi Bopara (£52,000)
Benny Howell (£42,000)
James Fuller (£42,000)
Will Jacks (£31,000)
George Garton (£21,000)
Bowlers
Liam Plunkett (£105,000)
Saqib Mahmood (£79,000)
Mark Wood (£52,000)
Pat Brown (£52,000)
Tymal Mills (£52,000)
David Payne (£31,000)
* All prices are approximate figures
You can see the complete list of 332 players here.
