The player registration for IPL 2019 auctions slated to take place on December 18 at Jaipur closed around 5 pm on Wednesday evening. While a host of cricketers – 1003 to be exact – registered with the hope of getting picked by one of the eight franchises for the 12th season, two prominent names were missing from the list. The ones of Australia limited overs captain Aaron Finch and all-rounder Glenn Maxwell.
Finch and Maxwell have decided to pull out of IPL 2019 auctions keeping Australia’s packed home season in mind before the ODI World Cup in England. Not to forget the World event will be followed by the Ashes later next year.
Maxwell was released by Delhi Daredevils (now renamed to Delhi Capitals), who signed him in January for INR 9 crore (USD 1.4 million approx then). Finch was picked by Kings XI Punjab for INR 6.2 crore (USD 948,000).
Cricket Australia had earlier cleared it out that they would not encourage their players to be available for the entire duration of IPL 2019, which ends barely two weeks before the World Cup begins on May 30.
Though BCCI made considerable efforts to get the services of the overseas players by preponing IPL to March 23 (tentative date) but still it was not enough to win the trust of the respective boards to risk their payers before the mega event in England.
According to ESPN Cricinfo, barring New Zealand and West Indies, all other boards have made it clear that their players would not be available for the major part of IPL 2019.
The Australian players will spend the least time in the IPL considering the Sheffield Shield final ends on April 1. Australia’s international stars meanwhile will be busy playing a five-match ODI series against Pakistan in UAE.
England’s World Cup cricketers on the other hand, will return home on April 25 for their camp while the rest of the English players can continue in the IPL until May 19.
Same goes with other top nations like South Africa, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. All of their players will leave early to join their respective World Cup camps.