Ravichandran Ashwin enters ILT20 auction with highest base price of USD 120000; What former CSK star brings on table?

Former India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has officially entered the International League T20 (ILT20) with a highest base price for any player. Based on a ESPNCricinfo report, the former Chennai Super Kings (CSK) star has listed himself at USD 120,000 (approximately ₹1,06,49,640), the auction of which will be held in Dubai on October 1.

Having retired from international cricket last year and from the Indian Premier League (IPL) few months back, Ashwin is the only player in the list with a base price in six figures. The current longlist, which has 800 players, including 24 Indians, will be further pruned before the auction.

What will R Ashwin bring to ILT20 if bought?

Previously, the likes of Ambati Rayudu, Robin Uthappa and Yusuf Pathan have played in the ILT20, but none comes close to Ashwin's stature. If bought by any of the six franchises, the 39-year-old will be the biggest Indian star to feature in ILT20, having taken 765 international wickets (across formats) and 187 scalps in IPL in his career spanning 16 years.

Besides his plethora of wickets, Ashwin comes in with a truck load of experiences with a brilliant cricketing brain and game reading ability. Even ILT20 CEO David White described Ashwin as an “intellect of the game.” In addition to his playing, Ashwin can also double up as player-cum-coach, something that late Shane Warne did with Rajasthan Royals in IPL.

“I think we're very open to anything like that. Not only his playing and coaching, but also his analytical skills. He has his own media company, which he's working on. We would welcome all aspects,” White was quoted as saying to TOI when asked about Ashwin's dual role.

What are ILT20 auction rules?

Each franchise will have a purse of USD 800,000 to spend on the auction day in addition to whatever spend remains unutilised from the USD 1.2M that was available for direct signings and retentions.

At the end of the auction, each franchise must have spent a minimum of USD 1.5M and a maximum of USD 2M. They may also spend an additional USD 250,000 on as many as two Wildcard players outside the auction.

All franchises must have a minimum of 19 players and a maximum of 21 players by the end of the auction (excluding Wildcards). There must be a minimum of 11 players from Full Member nations, four from UAE, one from Kuwait, one from Saudi Arabia and two from other Associate Nations.