IPL 2018 Auction Preview: Which players will spark bidding war?

Hope and despair will walk hand in hand when some of the world cricket’s biggest names go under the hammer during the two-day IPL players’ auctions starting on Saturday with the likes of Ben Stokes and R Ashwin expected to be among the most sought after.

This year’s auction will feature 578 players in all with 361 of them being Indians. There are 16 top players awarded marquee status and a base price of Rs 2 crore with notable among them being Stokes, Ashwin, Shikhar Dhawan, Mitchell Starc, Chris Gayle, and Dwayne Bravo to name a few.

After his record-breaking Rs 14.5 crore bid during the last edition, world’s premier all-rounder Ben Stokes is once again likely to force the franchises into loosening their purse strings.

There hasn’t been an IPL auction of this magnitude since the inception year of 2008 where so many premier Indian stars were up for grabs.

Ashwin and Ajinkya Rahane may have fallen out of favour in the national team as far as the shortest format is concerned but as current India players, the franchises are expected to show a lot of interest in them.

Someone like Kedar Jadhav, who can bat, bowl off-spin and keep wickets, is likely to …read more