IPL Auction 2023 LIVE: Australian stars go under the hammer in Dubai

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Welcome

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of tonight’s Indian Premier League “mini” auction.

There are 21 Australians in the running to be picked up by one of the IPL franchises tonight, including 11 members of this year’s World Cup-winning squad.

With only 77 contracts available across the 10 teams, and just 30 for overseas players, competition is fierce. Don’t be surprised if one or two big names miss out.

The likes of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Travis Head are in line to pick up bumper contracts, while David Warner, Mitch Marsh, Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis have already been retained by their existing franchises and won’t feature in the auction.

Let’s talk money

The big contract numbers are what you’re probably most interested in tonight, so let’s take a look at the pay days players have earned in the past.

Towering Aussie all-rounder Cameron Green went to the Mumbai Indians for 17.5 crore ($3.15 million) last year, while Australian skipper Pat Cummins went to the Kolkata Knight Riders for 15.5 crore ($3.16m) back in 2020.

England all-rounder Sam Curran became the most expensive player in IPL history last year with a deal worth 18.5 crore ($3.3m) with the Punjab Kings. The previous top-earner had been Yuvraj Singh in 2015, who signed with the Delhi Daredevils for 16 crore ($3.3m).

England skipper Ben Stokes went for $2.9m last year, South Africa’s Chris Morris went for the same price in 2021, and West Indian wicket-keeper scored $2.88m last season.

It is expected the top earner in today’s auction could earn north of $6 million AUD. And Mitchell Starc could potentially be that player after starring in Australia’s World Cup win in India, even if he hasn’t played a T20 international since October 2022.

Mitchell Starc celebrates a wicket in the World Cup final.Credit: Getty

The Australian players up for grabs

So, what is this auction exactly?

This is a “mini” auction, with IPL franchises bidding on players to complete their squads. Some teams have more spots available than others, with teams having already made decisions on retaining, releasing or trading players from last season’s line-ups.

Two years ago was the last “mega” auction, with another coming next year ahead of the 2025 season.

Players have registered themselves into a base price bracket, with the top bracket starting at $357,000 AUD. The Aussies in that bracket are Travis Head, Steve Smith, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, Josh Inglis and Sean Abbott.

The bottom price bracket starts at $36,000. Melbourne Renegades batsman Jake Fraser-McGurk, who belted a record-breaking 29-ball hundred for South Australia in October, is a potential bargain in that bracket.

IPL teams have a salary cap of $47 million to cover between 18 and 25 players, with a limit of eight overseas players. The tournament begins in March.

Tonight’s auction begins at 6.30pm AEDT, and will be broadcast live from Coca Cola Arena in Dubai via Fox Sports.

Welcome

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of tonight’s Indian Premier League “mini” auction.

There are 21 Australians in the running to be picked up by one of the IPL franchises tonight, including 11 members of this year’s World Cup-winning squad.

With only 77 contracts available across the 10 teams, and just 30 for overseas players, competition is fierce. Don’t be surprised if one or two big names miss out.

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