The final list of 292 players has been released for the IPL auction to be held on February 18. Australian batsman Shaun Marsh, New Zealand all-rounder Corey Anderson and former South African fast bowler Morne Morkel are among 17 newcomers to feature in the shortlisted players. These players have been named at the request of franchisees.
Surprisingly, former India bowler S Sreesanth (38) has not been included in this. At the same time, the 31-year-old son of former wicketkeeper Syed Kirmani of the Indian cricket team has got a place. Syed Kirmani was part of the Indian team that won the World Cup for the first time in 1983.
Syed Kirmani's son Sadiq Kirmani is also a wicket-keeper batsman. However, he has played only two List A matches for Karnataka in domestic cricket. He played his last List A match in 2015. He also played his last match in T20 in the Karnataka Premier League two and a half years ago in 2018.
Sreesanth had registered himself for the auction and kept his base price of Rs 75 lakh. In 2013, BCCI banned Sreesanth for life due to his name in spot-fixing. However, the Supreme Court later abolished the life ban. But now, from the stand of IPL management, it seems that it is not going to be easy for Sreesanth to come back.
Also Read: England announces 16-member squad for T20 series against India, number 1 T20 batsman back in squad
“A total of 1114 players had registered for the auction, of which the franchises shortlisted the candidates and the list was pruned. Maybe, Sreesanth did not attract the franchises for some reason,” an unnamed franchise officials was quoted as saying by Sportstar on Thursday.
The 8 franchises have a total of 61 slots vacant for the next season of the IPL. In these 61 places, the place of 22 foreign players is also vacant. These players have been shortlisted from a pool of 1097 registered players. These include 164 players from India and 128 players from other countries.