Published: Feb 14, 2017, 04:30 PM (IST)
Edited: Feb 14, 2017, 04:30 PM (IST)
After showing immense promise with consistent performance over last one year, Afghanistani cricketers are finally getting recognition at big level. From the final list of auction for upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) edition, five players are from Afghanistan. As reported by ESPNCricinfo, a total of 351 players will enter the IPL auction for 2017 edition, 122 out of them have played international cricket at some stage. The list of five Afghan cricketers who have entered the auction list starts with their skipper Asghar Stanikzai followed by their star all-rounder Mohammad Nabi, the bulky wicketkeeper-opener Mohammad Shahzad, leg-spinner Rashid Khan and pacer Dawlat Zadran.
Besides these Afghan players, one more Associate player will feature in the auction. UAE batsman Chirag Suri will be sixth Associate player in the list. From the list of six Associate cricketer, Shahzad and Rashid have the highest base price of INR 50 lakh. The auction is going to take place on February 20 in Bengaluru. The overall list of 799 players was trimmed after all the eight franchises placed their wishlists to the IPL.
Among all, Indian pacer Ishant Sharma is one of the seven players with the maximum base price at INR 2 crore – approx US$298,000. The other six cricketers with base prices of INR 2 crore are Ben Stokes, Eoin Morgan, Chris Woakes, Mitchell Johnson, Pat Cummins and Angelo Mathews. Two of them are national captains, while two all rounders and two specialist pacers. Sudeep Tyagi was the only capped Indian player who will not feature in the auction.
However, franchises have shown their keen interest in buying English players and have said they would not be too aggressive in buying players this season. Though, IPL is yet to decide on the rule of retaining players.
