IPL Auction 2018: Why many England players went unsold at the Auctions?

What’s the story?

There was one surprise element in this year’s auction and that was a lot of England players remaining unsold.

A few of the heads at the auction table expressed their views on this matter after the mega-event was over. The CEO Managing Director of Kolkata Knight Riders, Venky Mysore stated the high base prices and availability of the England players as the main reason to why the English players didn’t find a lot of interest. On the other hand, the Delhi Daredevils CEO, Hemant Dua though that it was due the County stints that they didn’t go for the England players.

The heart of the matter

After the mega auctions were done and when asked about the England players going unsold, Venky Mysore stated: “Historically, they (England players) have never been a part of the IPL because of NOC (No Objection Certificate) and ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board) have their own commitments. There is (also) the issue of familiarity. Then there is the issue of availability (for) this year and next year. And they all have fairly high base prices. That could be one of the reasons why.”

Meanwhile, Hemant Dua cited a different reason. He said, “They all play for counties and when counties release them they have to pay a share of it, which is why they have a high base price.”

In case you didn’t know…

578 players were to go under the hammer in this year’s auction for the 11th edition of the IPL. Only 8 England players were picked by the various franchises.

Ben Stokes was the costliest player in the auction as Rajasthan Royals (RR) bought him for INR 12.5 crore. Chris Woakes also got a fair bit of attraction and was sold to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). Jos Buttler, Jason Roy, Moeen Ali, Sam Billings, Mark Wood and Chris Jordan were the other England stars who were bought at the mega event.

Surprisingly, Joe Root who was in the auction for the first time was overlooked by the franchises. England captain Eoin Morgan and opener Alex Hales were also unsold.

What’s next?

England recently won the ODI series in Australia (4-1). They will play a T20I triangular tournament involving Australia and New Zealand next month.

With many England stars going unsold, they can still be bought by the franchises via replacements.

Author’s note

It was surprising to see quite a few England players remain unsold especially the likes of Joe Root and Eoin Morgan. However, the teams might have looked at England’s playing calendar and the England home season starts in mid-May. Thus, that might have been one of the reasons why many England players were overlooked.