It’s time for the IPL 2021 player auction!

Flamboyant Australian Glenn Maxwell is expected to be a favourite despite his underwhelming record along with Englandrsquos spin bowling allrounder Moeen Ali during a condensed IPL players auction slated here todayA total of 292 players have been enlisted for the shortened auctionsmdash164 of them Indian and 125 overseas There will also be three associate players in the auction61 slots up for grabsWith 61 slots across eight franchises up for grabs Royal Challengers Bangalore RCB has the maximum 11 vacancies to fill with a purse of R354 crore while Sunrisers Hyderabad has only three slots available with R1075 crore in its kittyThe highest purse available is with Punjab Kings formerly Kings XI Punjab which has R5320 croreWith the IPL back in India after being held in the UAE last year due to the COVID19 pandemic focus will be on bighitters as well as slow bowlers and Maxwell and Moeen fit the category to the THowever Maxwell averages 22 in the tournament having played 82 matches for his 1505 runs He last played for PunjabSince the IPL will be held in India Maxwell despite his underachieving stats could be picked for his skills as a tight offbreak bowler on slower tracks While Maxwell and his former skipper Steven Smith are both in the highest bidding category of R2 crore one name that will surely attract attention is Worldrsquos No 1 ranked T20 batsman Dawid Malan from EnglandOne of the most keenlywatched teams going into the auction will be Chennai Super Kings after a nightmarish 2020 season when they failed to qualify for the IPL playoffs for the first time in tournamentrsquos historyAs usual there would be some eyepopping bids for the uncapped domestic players like Keralarsquos Mohammed Azharuddeen Junior Tamil Nadursquos handsome hulk Shah Rukh Khan allrounder R Sonu Yadav Barodarsquos Vishnu Solanki and Bengalrsquos Akash DeepBidding warsThey could invite mini bidding wars with their lowest base price bracket of Rs 20 lakh Sachin Tendulkarrsquos son Arjun a left arm fast bowler who made his senior Mumbai team debut this year is bracketed in the R20 lakh category and the kind of traction that the young kid brings along could mean that some bidders will be there for him379No of runs scored by Glenn Maxwell in 14 matches at the recentlyconcluded Big Bash League The Melbourne Stars allrounder has claimed seven wickets tooMumbai IndiansAvailable slots 7In purse Rs 1535 croreChennai Super KingsAvailable slots 6In purse Rs 1990 croreKolkata Knight RidersAvailable slots 8In purse Rs 1075 croreRoyal Challengers BangaloreAvailable slots 11In purse Rs 3540 crorePunjab KingsAvailable slots 9In purse Rs 5320 croreDelhi CapitalsAvailable slots 8In purse Rs 134 croreRajasthan RoyalsAvailable slots 9In purse Rs 3785 croreSunrisers HyderabadAvailable slots 3In purse Rs 1075 croreThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever