IPL 2021: Sachin's son Arjun Tendulkar among 1,097 players to go under the hammer in mini auction

Arjun Tendulkar, son of the legendary Sachin Tendulkar, reportedly is one of the 1,097 cricketers to have signed up for the mini auction ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020.

Arjun made his professional debut at the recently concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali, India's T20 domestic tournament, where he played two matches for the Mumbai cricket team. The 21-year-old left-arm fast bowler, who has been training with the Mumbai team for a few years now, has enrolled in the auction with a base price of INR 20 lakh, as reported by ESPN Cricinfo.

The BCCI said in a media release on Friday that the player registration had closed on Feb. 4 and a total of 1,097 players (814 Indians and 283 overseas) had signed up for the auction, which is scheduled to take place on Feb. 18 in Chennai from 3 PM onwards. The auction list comprises of 207 capped, 863 uncapped and 27 associate players.

The report has also revealed that Australian pacer Mitchell Starc, who last played in the IPL back in 2015, has decided not to participate once again, while English Test captain Joe Root, who scored a century in his 100th Test on Friday, has also not registered his name for the second time in a row.

Bangladesh star all-rounder Shakib-Al-Hasan who served a suspension by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for not reporting a corrupt approach, has listed himself at the highest base price of INR 2 crore. Meanwhile, Indian cricketer Sreesanth, who returned to competitive cricket after seven years by playing in the Syed Mushtaq Ali for Kerala. The 37-year-old pacer has set his base price at INR 75 lakh.

The Kerala cricketer initially was banned for life by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for his role in the spot-fixing scandal in the IPL 2013, but the ban was reduced to seven years in August 2019.

The bracket of INR 2 crore's base price includes Harbhajan Singh, Kedar Jadhav, Steven Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Moeen Ali, Sam Billings, Jason Roy, Mark Wood, Liam Plunkett and Colin Ingram.

India's Test specialists Hanuma Vihari and Cheteshwar Pujara, who recently played vital roles in India's historic 2-1 Test series win in Australia, have also enrolled in the auction at a base price of INR 1 crore and INR 50 lakh respectively.

Meanwhile, the current World No. 1 Twenty20 International (T20I) batsman Dawid Malan of England may finally make his IPL debut this season as he has registered his name at a base price of INR 1.5 crore.

Among others to list at the same price are Alex Carey, Tom Curran, Mitchell Swepson, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Alex Hales, Jhye Richardson, Adil Rashid, David Willey, Adam Lyth and Lewis Gregory.

It was earlier reported that the IPL 2021 might begin on April 11 and the final may take place on either June 5 or 6. The BCCI is planning to host the tournament across four venues in Maharashtra – Wankhede (Mumbai), Brabourne (Mumbai), DY Patil (Navi Mumbai) and Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA), Pune.