350 cricketers to go under auctioneer’s hammer for IPL-4

Friday, 31 December 2010 00:04 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

MUMBAI: As many as 350 top cricketers from India and abroad would go under the auctioneer’s hammer in Bangalore on January 8 and 9 with the 10 IPL franchises bidding for their services for the fourth season of the lucrative Twenty20 League .

Barring a dozen players, including Indian superstars Sachin Tendulkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Virender Sehwag, who have been retained by five franchises in advance of the auction as per the IPL player regulations, most of the world’s top players would be up for grabs.

The list of players has 11 out of 12 century makers in the previous three IPL seasons, including the Twenty20 league’s fastest century maker Yusuf Pathan and 2010 ICC ODI Player of the Year, A B de Villers (South Africa), Cricket Board Secretary N Srinivasan said.

Former India skippers Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid, too, would be available for pickings by the various franchises.

Other established IPL performers available at the auction include current Indian team members Gautam Gambhir, Zaheer Khan , Ashish Nehra and Yuvraj Singh , as well as 2009 IPL’s most successful bowler (38 wickets) R P Singh.

“The DLF IPL auction is indeed a very exciting prospect. I am confident that IPL fans throughout India and across the world will be paying very close attention to which of the world’s best cricketers will be wearing their teams colours for the next IPL season,” said IPL Chairman Chirayu Amin .