The IPL 2012 Player Auction will be held on Saturday, 4 February 2012, at the ITC Royal Gardenia, Bengaluru.

The shortlist of the 144 players who will go under the hammer during the auction.

“The shortlist comprises some outstanding cricket talent, “Rajeev Shukla, Chairman, IPL, commented.

“Given that it was prepared on the basis of the feedback of the Franchises themselves, the stage is set for an exciting and eventful Player Auction, this Saturday.

“The Franchises purchased the bulk of their respective squads in 2011. Their aim at the upcoming Auction will be to bring in some players who can make a difference to their prospects in the tournament.

“The Auction will mark the formal opening of IPL 2012.”

IPL 2012 Player Auction List | IPL 5 Auction Players List

The IPL auction, set to be held in Bangalore on February 4, will see 144 players – including several former Kochi Tuskers Kerala players – go under the hammer. These players, picked according to a combination of their valuation and star worth, will be put up for auction.

The players who stand to pocket hefty deals are big-ticket players from the defunct Kochi franchise. Brendon McCullum, VVS Laxman and Sreesanth are the most valued names among several former Kochi players with reserve prices of $400,000, followed by the Sri Lankan pair of Mahela Jayawardene and Muttiah Muralitharan ($300,000), RP Singh and Parthiv Patel ($200,000), and Ravindra Jadeja, Vinay Kumar, Ramesh Powar and VRV Singh ($100,000).

The other leading players, based on a combination of their value and a star power, are England offspinner Graeme Swann ($400,000), fast bowlers James Anderson and Mitchell Johnson ($300,000), and Peter Siddle and Matt Prior, the England wicketkeeper ($200,000).

Given that there are several international series going on during the time of IPL 5, there is a slim chance that several overseas players may not available for the entire tournament. England tour Sri Lanka in March and April before hosting West Indies in May, so the participation of Swann and Anderson is doubtful. Johnson, in December, had been ruled out of cricket for “five to six months” after undergoing surgery on the big toe of his left foot in Melbourne, so franchises may be wary of his availability too.

West Indies will also be busy during the IPL, hosting Australia for the Frank Worrell Trophy in March and April, before heading to England in May. Members of Australia’s national team will also be unavailable until the Test Series in the Caribbean ends on April 27.

The franchises have been allowed to increase their squads from 30 players to 33, with an additional spot open for overseas players, giving the franchise owners more reason to loosen their purse strings. Each team is allowed to have 11 overseas players and among the nine participating in IPL 5, how swiftly Rajasthan Royals act at the auction will be interesting to see given that they have the most slots available – six. Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians have four each, Kings XI Punjab, Pune Warriors and Deccan Chargers have three, followed by Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Daredevils (two) and defending champions Chennai Super Kings (one).

Rajasthan, Deccan, Punjab, Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi and Kolkata have $2 million available to spend, followed by Pune ($1.6 million) and Bangalore ($1 million). Bangalore had retained last season’s Player of the Tournament Chris Gayle, after being given first rights to his services owing to the fact that he represented the franchise as a replacement for Dirk Nannes. Though the amount he has been signed for is yet undisclosed, it has reportedly been revealed to the IPL authorities and deducted from Bangalore’s auction purse.

One of the most sought-after players could be Ireland’s big-hitting allrounder Kevin O’Brien, who shot into the limelight with a heroic 50-ball century (the fastest in World Cup history) against England in Bangalore last year. O’Brien was unable to join the IPL last season, but jumped at the chance when the IPL opened a window for players to register on the auction list. With a Twenty20 strike-rate of 139.46, including the fastest hundred in England domestic Twenty20 for Gloucestershire last year, the 27-year-old stands to attract significant bidding at the auction. His base price has been set at $50,000 but O’Brien could go for much more (last year Kolkata Knight Riders snapped up Netherlands’ allrounder Ryan ten Doeschate for $150,000 after his base price was set at $50,000.)

Among the internationals, notable players are Brad Hogg, who made a comeback to the Australian side aged 40 for the Twenty20s against India, and former Australian batsman Brad Hodge. Hodge, the second highest run-scorer in Twenty20 cricket, was also a part of the Kochi franchise in IPL 4. Jacob Oram, Vernon Philander and Farveez Maharoof could also attract high bids for their all-round value.

Purse available for each team

Pune Warriors: $1.6 million

Callum Ferguson, Nathan McCullum, Mitchell Marsh, Tim Paine, Wayne Parnell, Jesse Ryder, Graeme Smith, Alfonso Thomas.

Kolkata Knight Riders: $2 million

Brad Haddin, Jacques Kallis, Brett Lee, Eoin Morgan, Shakib Al Hasan, Ryan ten Doeschate, James Pattinson.

Delhi Daredevils: $2 million

London : Ireland’s Kevin O’Brien will hope for more good news from Bangalore when the Indian Premier League players’ auction takes place in the southern Indian city on Saturday.

It was in Bangalore last year where O’Brien scored the fastest world cup century of all time during Ireland’s sensational win over England.

O’Brien got to three figures in just 50 balls and finished with 113, including six sixes and 13 fours, in a magnificent display of clean hitting as Ireland won by three wickets with seven balls to spare.

And he proved that innings was no one-off by scoring a 44-ball hundred for Gloucestershire against Middlesex in a Twenty20 match – the same format as used in the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL).

Having not registered in the auction for last year’s IPL only to find out Kochi were interested in having him in their side, O’Brien made sure his name was on the list for the fifth edition.

“It’s an exciting time, waiting for Saturday,” O’Brien told AFP.

Understandably, the memory of his stunning hundred is still vivid for the 27-year-old, also a useful medium-pacer, and O’Brien hopes it has also remained fresh for this weekend’s bidders as well.

“It’s still close to the front of my mind. Hopefully, with the auction being in Bangalore, it will help other people remember it too,” he said.

O’Brien is one of 144 cricketers from around the world hoping for an IPL contract in the 2012 IPL, which takes place from April 4 to May 27.

While his base price of $50,000, could make him a tempting target in an auction where the likes of New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum and England’s Graeme Swann have reserves of $400,000, O’Brien was keen to stress that he’d improved as a player since his world cup heroics.

“My five months with Gloucestershire were tremendously important. I think I am a better cricketer now and I’m physically much fitter now than I was.

“The IPL is a great tournament. For six weeks, you get to play with and against the best players in the world.

Kolkata, Feb 01: Bollywood superstar and owner of IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) Shah Rukh Khan said the team management will sit for a discussion on Thursday to chalk out the strategy of for the upcoming cricket season.

“We are having a new coach as Trevor (Trevor Bayliss), because we were not aware whether our old coach would have been able to stay with us. I will be meeting him on Thursday at Mumbai. The cricketing decisions will be taken by captain Gautam (Gambhir), coach and other cricketing heads. We will start our preparations from on Thursday night,” said Shah Rukh while addressing a programme in Kolkata.

King Khan was hopeful was filling up the spaces where the team is lacking right now.

Bangalore, Jan 30 : Eight Indians, including veteran Test batsman V. V. S. Laxman, 32 Australians and 30 South Africans will be among the 144 players up for sale in the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction here Saturday.

Besides Laxman, the Indians to come under the hammer for IPL’s fifth edition are fast bowlers Rudra Pratap Singh, Shantakumaran Sreesanth and R. Vinay Kumar, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel and spinner Ramesh Powar, who all played for the terminated Kochi franchise last year. Former Kings XI Punjab fast bowler V. R. V. Singh will also be available.

“The franchises purchased the bulk of their respective squads in 2011. Their aim at the upcoming auction will be to bring in some players who can make a difference to their prospects in the tournament,” said IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla in a statement.

The Australian players’ list comprise 41-year-old spinner Brad Hogg, fast bowler Mitchell Johnson and retired leg-spinner Stuart MacGill.

New Delhi: Already under severe pressure to retain his place in the Test squad, VVS Laxman’s IPL career may just come to a halt as none of the nine franchises are keen on roping in the senior batsman as a full-time player.

Laxman, who was bought by Kochi Tuskers Kerala at a price of $400,000 during the last edition, will again go under the hammer along with fellow India players like Ravindra Jadeja, Parthiv Patel, Rudra Pratap Singh, Brendon McCullum and Mahela Jayawardene and Muttiah Muralitharan.

While there would be a fight among the teams for Jadeja whose game suits the shortest format, Laxman looks like one of the bigger names who might just miss out.

“This auction won’t be a full-fledged one. The franchises have $2 million purse and teams like Royal Challengers Bangalore, Pune Warriors will come to the auction with even lesser money. All the owners will be very choosy about the players they will be zeroing on. I don’t see Laxman fitting into the scheme of things,” an IPL official said on Monday.