Misbah, Watson, Ashraful, among 18 for second IPL auction

Mumbai, Mar 10 (UNI) As many as 18 players including of Pakistani batsman Misbah-ul-Haq, Australian all rounder Shane Watson and Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful, will go under the hammer in the second DLF Indian Premier League (IPL) auction which will be held here tomorrow.

Among the 18 who will go under the hammer include seven New Zealanders, four Australians, three Pakistanis, two Bangladeshis, one Sri Lankan and South African each. However, no English cricketers figure in the list.

The injury-prone Watson has not played for Australia, since the ICC World Twenty20 in September 2007 and has struggled during Queensland's Pura Cup campaign. He earned a recall to the national side for the CB Series but nagging leg problems forced him out again. Misbah, who was not included for the initial auction, is a big draw given his Twenty20 success in the last season.

Mohammad Yousuf and Ashwell Prince, who were not picked up by any of the eight franchises last month, will be auctioned again.

''There are 13 other foreign players who have shown keen interest to play in the first season,'' a top BCCI official said. These include Shaun Tait, on a self-imposed indefinite break from cricket, Brad Hogg, who recently retired, West Indies' Dwayne Smith, and Yasir Hameed, the Pakistan batsman. Seven other Australians have also apparently expressed interest.

The IPL permits each franchise to buy more foreign players outside the list of 18 if they inform the tournament officials about who they are interested in. The IPL organisers would then negotiate the players' base prices and try and secure No-Objection Certificates (NOCs) from the respective country boards.

This auction is expected to be relatively smaller than the first, which was worth USD 42 million. The eight franchise owners still have unspent money, a factor which has necessitated a second auction.

The amounts are: 374,000 dollars (Bangalore), 23,750 dollars (Chennai), 71,250 dollars (Delhi), 262,500 dollars (Hyderabad), 1,700,000 dollars (Jaipur), 107,500 dollars (Kolkata), 292,250 dollars (Mohali) and 53,750 dollars (Mumbai).

''If a team exceeds five million dollars [after spending] on players who were initially not available, but become available later, the excess expenditure will be ignored,'' said the official.

All team owners have to finalise their squads 30 days before the start of the 2008 season. The IPL kicks off on April 18.

Players for second auction: Pakistan: Mohammad Yousuf, Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Hafeez; South Africa: Ashwell Prince; New Zealand: Ross Taylor, Peter Fulton, Jamie How, Jeetan Patel, Chris Martin, Kyle Mills, James Franklin; Australia: Brad Hodge, Shane Watson, James Hopes, Luke Pomersbach; Sri Lanka: Prasanna Jayawardene; Bangladesh: Mohammad Ashraful, Mashrafe Mortaza.

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