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Babar, Warner, Shakib, Pollard and de Kock enter The Hundred draft with highest reserve prices

The stars of the domestic T20 leagues around the world, David Warner, Shakib Al Hasan, Kieron Pollard and Quinton de Kock have registered themselves for the ‘The Hundred’ players draft. The Hundred a new format of cricket introduced by the English and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) was scheduled to start in July last year, but covid-19 postponed the inauguration. It is now slated to begin its journey in July this year. The highest reserve price for The Hundred has now been slashed to 100,000 Pounds, which would translate to nearly 1 crore Indian Rupees. Along with Shakib, Pollard, Warner and de Kock, the likes of Tamim Iqbal, Nicholas Pooran, Kagiso Rabada, Jason Holder and Lockie Ferguson have also put up their names in the 100,000-pound reserve club. But the issue is that only four players can be drafted at the reserve price of 100,000 Pounds. A total of 252 players have registered themselves for the auctions and out of that 35 players will be selected in next week's draft. Of the 35, 28 would be domestic players while seven overseas players can be picked. Manchester Originals and Welsh Fire will be the two teams going after the players after opting for an overhaul almost. Rest of the teams have mostly retained their old squad which was picked last year. A closed-doors, virtual draft will take place on 23rd day and the picks would be announced on 24th February. Each team in The Hundred will have 14 players in their men's squad, including three overseas players. England red balls stars could be picked but their availability will be limited due to the Test series. One final player will be allowed each team after the group stage of the T20 Blast as a 'wildcard' selection. "We are delighted with the level of interest we've had from both overseas and domestic players. The calibre of the players involved means that it's going to be an exciting men's draft, with a lot of competition for spaces amongst really top-drawer names,” said Rob Hillman, the Hundred's head of operations.

Will Pucovski set to undergo surgery on injured shoulder

Emerging Australia batsman Will Pucosvi is set to spend a lot of time out of the action due to the shoulder injury he sustained in the third Test match against India earlier last month. The right-hander is set to undergo surgery on ‘shoulder subluxation’ and will miss most part of the Australian domestic season. The surgery and the long period of rehabilitation will jeopardise his chances to get back in the Australia squad for the Ashes series due to be held later at the end of the year. Pucovski was selected for the Test series against Australia on the back of splendid performances in the early Sheffield Season but a blow on his head and subsequent concussion ruled him out of the first two Tests of the series. He later came back in the third Test at the SCG only to miss out once again due to the shoulder injury which he picked up while trying to dive in fielding on the fifth and final day of the SCG. He has been missing in action since.

IPL 2021 auction: Mark Wood pulls out to spend time with family

England pacer Mark Wood has opted out of the auction for the next edition of the IPL scheduled to take place today. He was sought by franchises for the raw pace and the ability to bowl yorkers in the latter half of the innings, but the pacer opted to spend some time with the family in the period when many of his England teammates will feature in the league. Wood had set his base price of Rs 2 crore before the auction but now has withdrawn his name from the league. Wood has returned to India to join the England squad on the ongoing series against India after missing the first two Tests of the series. Wood played in the two-match Test in Sri Lanka before heading back to the UK under a widely contentious ‘rotation policy’ adopted by the team management. Wood had made his debut in IPL in 2018 edition when the Chennai Super Kings had bidden for him at Rs 1.5 crore. He bowled poorly and ended up conceding 49 runs off his four overs in the solitary game he played for the franchise. Later, he was released before the IPL 2019 auction and since then he has gone unsold in the last two auctions.

IPL 2021: KKR eyes some big buys with limited resource ahead of mini-auction

Despite being the two-time IPL champions, the recent years for Kolkata Knight Riders has been far from impressive, Despite having several big names in their arsenal, the Kolkata based franchise hasn’t managed to gel as a unit which has resulted in their below-par performances in the last three years. Under the captaincy of Dinesh Karthik, KKR had shown glimpses of their repertoire but hasn’t been able to take it to the next level. Karthik was removed from the captaincy last year and it was handed over to Eoin Morgan. KKR did manage to outclass Rajasthan Royals in their final group game last year but that wasn’t enough to book themselves a spot in the playoffs. When it comes to the history of IPL, KKR hasn’t had the greatest of times in the first three editions under the captaincy of Sourav Ganguly but the induction of Gautam Gambhir as the skipper totally changed the dynamics of the franchise. The southpaw led KKR to two championship titles but since his departure, the team hasn’t managed to form a solid base which hasn’t really kept them in the best of shapes. Going into the mini-auctions, KKR will surely look to balance caution with aggression and form a team which might just help them to seal their third IPL title. Barring Shubman Gill, none of the top order players has been consistent and especially after batting first, the franchise hasn’t managed to post big enough total for their bowlers to come into action. They will surely be looking to get some big names in their kitty despite having limited resources. Strengths Shubman Gill at the top of the order looks a sorted guy but his strike rate had come under the scrutiny quite often in the last year. However, we are not quite sure what was the approach of team management and whether he was instructed to play the sheet-anchor’s role. We have already seen how aggressive Gill is. For a player of that stature and still not getting his strike rate up is a matter of concern for KKR but given his skill sets and some stellar performances for India in the recent past, KKR will surely be looking forward to seeing him come out all guns blazing in the next edition. The captaincy department has been handed over to Morgan but KKR hasn’t parted ways with Karthik either. So it’s a win-win scenario for KKR in this regard. With so much international captaincy experience under his belt, Morgan will surely look to lift the team in the upcoming edition with his strategies and planning with Karthik helping him out. The bowling department also looks more or less sorted with Pat Cummins spearheading the attack. He will be assisted by Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy, the two mystery spinners which KKR are very proud of having. It proved to be the breakthrough year for Chakravarthy last season which also earned him a national call-up which was cut short in the end owing to injuries. They might also go with Kuldeep Yadav if they want a wrist spinner in their XI. Guys like Shivam Mavi and Kamlesh Nagarkoti also showed glimpses of their abilities in the last season and will look to be a bit more consistent going into the next edition. Potential Targets for KKR Mohammad Azharudden Mohammed Azharuddeen has been one of the talking points in the Indian domestic set-up ever since he smashed that blazing century in the recently concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. He is a top natch youngster to have and his ability to smash the ball from word go despite not taking too many undue risks will play a perfect foil if given the opportunity to open with Shubman Gill. It will also allow the young sensation to play his natural game and the issues regarding the strike rate might just drop down a bit. On a personal front, I definitely feel that the KKR team management might go on a bidding war to acquire the services of this 26-year-old. Dawid Malan The power-hitting England middle-order batsman has been a sensation in the shorter formats and his ability to strike the ball big and play sensibly in the middle overs might just make the KKR team management go after him. The No 1 ranked T20I batsman, Malan has gone on from strength to strength in the last couple of years and his introduction to KKR might work wonders for them. In the recently concluded BBL, we have seen some stellar knocks from the blade of the southpaw. Yet to be a part of the IPL, Malan could be in the radar for several teams but in my perspective, KKR might go on a bidding war to acquire his services. Piyush Chawla That might sound odd given the fact that he was smashed for plenty while playing for CSK last year but Chawla had been an asset for the two-time champions previously. Maybe the Eden Gardens surface is more conductive for his style of bowling and hence the KKR team management might be tempted to buy him back. Jason Behrendorff/Mitchell McLenaghan I have given out two names here because both the bowlers offer similar sort of a balance to any playing XI. With Pat Cummins and Lockie Ferguson already in the KKR set-up, they might look for some variety in the fast bowling department and having a left-arm pacer is always a luxury. While McClenaghan has been a proven customer in the IPL for the Mumbai Indians, Behrendorff hasn’t got enough opportunities in the cash-rich league but one among the two could be on KKR’s radar. PLAYERS RETAINED: Dinesh Karthik, Andre Russell, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Nitish Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Rinku Singh, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Mavi, Shubman Gill, Sunil Narine, Eoin Morgan (c), Pat Cummins, Rahul Tripathi, Varun Chakravarthy, Harry Gurney, Ali Khan PLAYERS RELEASED: M Siddharth, Nikhil Naik, Siddhesh Lad, Chris Green, Tom Banton Auction purse left: 10.75 CR Slots available: 8 Overseas slots: 2