A mind-boggling 1122 players have signed up to be a part of the mega VIVO IPL Player Auction 2018, which is scheduled to take place in Bengaluru on Jan 27th – 28th, 2018. The registration for the auctions ended on 12th Jan 2018.
3 players from Associate countries (1 from Scotland and 2 from USA) have also registered their names in the player auctions which sees 2 members & 13 members respectively from new Test entrants, Ireland & Afghanistan.
It’s highly unlikely that any of the 3 Associate players would be picked up during the player auctions. The trend shown in the previous years and Franchise owner’s push for big International stars has meant that hardly anyone from the Associate countries have registered themselves for the auctions.
Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan is expected to earn big due to his 2017/2018 record as a consistent leg-spin bowler. His previous franchise, Sunrisers Hyderabad, though retain 3 Right-to-Match cards remaining for the auctions to buy him back if they are ready to match the amount getting paid for him by the highest bidder during the auctions.
The country-wise breakdown of 282 overseas players in 2018 VIVO IPL Player Auctions:
| Country | Players Registered |
| Afghanistan | 13 |
| Australia | 58 |
| Bangladesh | 8 |
| England | 26 |
| Ireland | 2 |
| New Zealand | 30 |
| Scotland | 1 |
| South Africa | 57 |
| Sri Lanka | 39 |
| USA | 2 |
| West Indies | 39 |
| Zimbabwe | 7 |
