By News18,Rudransh Khurana
Copyright news18
Indian spin legend R Ashwin has officially registered for the first-ever International League T20 (ILT20) auction, set for October 1. According to ESPNcricinfo, he has been listed at USD 120,000 (around Rs 1.06 crore), which is the highest in the auction. He’s the only player in the 800-member auction list with a six-figure base price.
The report said Ashwin is among the 24 Indians on the auction longlist. Just like in the Indian Premier League (IPL), the list will be culled to only those players who get official interest from one of the six franchises.
This will be the fourth season of the ILT20, running between December 2 and January 4. However, it’ll be the first-ever auction for the tournament as it moves away from the draft system.
ILT20 teams finished their retentions and direct signings in July. Each team had a budget of USD 1.2 million for these signings, and whatever money was left was added to their auction budget of USD 800,000. In total, a team can spend up to USD 2 million but must spend at least USD 1.5 million. They can also spend an extra USD 250,000 to sign up to two wildcard players outside the auction.
This means any team signing Ashwin would be exhausting almost the entirety of its auction budget on him. It speaks volumes about the appeal that the Indian 38-year-old spinner carries.
He retired only recently, and though ILT20 has seen many former cricketers participate in it over the years, none have been of Ashwin’s stature. In fact, no league apart from the IPL has been able to draw in a player matching Ashwin’s marketability and popularity. The ILT20 will expect Ashwin to bring with him a big chunk of the in-demand Indian audience base.
According to other reports, Ashwin might also take up a coaching role alongside a playing one at the ILT20. Moreover, after the completion of the tournament, he’ll travel to Australia to feature in the Big Bash League, where he’ll become the first-ever capped Indian participant.
