The final list of players who will go under the hammer in the upcoming IPL auctions on January 27 and 28 has been pruned from 1,122 who expressed interest to 578. Out of this, 360 are Indian players and 218 foreign. With a total of 18 players already retained by the eight franchises, and there being squad size limit of 25, a maximum of 182 players (out of the 578) will be traded during the event in Bengaluru.
IPL AUCTION
IPL Auction: 578 players set to go under the hammer
A total of 360 Indian players and 218 foreign players will go under the hammer © Getty
Of these, as many as 16 marquee players - each with a base price of INR 2 crore - are likely to spark a lot of attention from the franchises. Previous auction's biggest name - Ben Stokes - is likely to be one of the most sought-after names once again, despite his recent off-field troubles. But franchises could also turn their attention to proven T20 game-changers like Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo, Shakib Al Hasan and Glenn Maxwell. For franchises that are looking for openers, there are some Indian marquee options in Shikhar Dhawan, Gautam Gambhir and Ajinkya Rahane, each of who can be retained by their respective franchises via Right To Match (RTM) card.
For sides that intend on building a core with experienced Indian players could turn their attention to the senior likes of Ravichandran Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh. Ashwin cannot be retained by CSK via RTM option as they've already retained three capped Indian players (Dhoni, Raina and Jadeja), but the skipper Dhoni