Nine cricketers were removed from the Indian Premier League auction list on Saturday, organisers confirmed, days before the mini auction is scheduled to take place on 16 December in Abu Dhabi.
More than 1,000 players had initially registered for the IPL auction, from which a provisional shortlist of 350 was released last week. That list was later expanded to 359 after the addition of nine more players. However, the same number were subsequently omitted, leaving questions over the decision.
Of the nine players dropped, six are Indian and three are overseas. The Indian players are Mani Sarkar, Mura Singh, Chama Milind, KL Sreejit, Swastik Chikara, Rahul Raj Namala and Virat Singh, all of whom had a base price of 30 lakh rupees. Malaysian all-rounder Virandeep Singh, also priced at 30 lakh rupees, was among the overseas players removed.
Virandeep has featured in 110 international matches, scoring more than 3,000 runs in T20 cricket and taking 105 wickets. The other overseas players excluded were South African Ethan Bosch and Australian Chris Green, both of whom had base prices of 75 lakh rupees.
The IPL has not provided any explanation for the late removal of the players after including them in the expanded shortlist. The mini auction will be held in Abu Dhabi on 16 December.
