Australia pace spearhead Mitchell Starc has opted out of the Indian Premier League for a second successive year even as his teammates Glenn Maxwell and Chris Lynn are among seven players who have listed their names in the player’s auction to be held on December 19 in Kolkata. The 29-year-old Starc last featured in the IPL in 2015 when he represented Royal Challengers Bangalore.
In the 2018 IPL auction, the left-arm quick had been signed by Kolkata Knight Riders for Rs 9.4 crore, but was unavailable for the entire tournament because of an injury. Earlier this year, Starc was recovering from injury ahead of the IPL 2019 auction and had opted out to give priority to Australia’s World Cup campaign. England’s Test captain Joe Root is another notable absentee from the auction pool of 971 players. Glenn Maxwell and Chris Lynn, however, will be up for grabs and have set their base price at the maximum of Rs 2 crore.
Apart from Maxwell and Lynn, the others to list their base price at Rs 2 crore are Australia fast bowlers Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, Australia allrounder Mitchell Marsh, South Africa quick Dale Steyn, and Sri Lanka batsman Angelo Mathews. Among other overseas big names in the auction list is South Africa pacer Chris Morris, who became the only retained player in 2018 to be released ahead of the upcoming auction.
