You should pick those players who might not get selected for the World Cup squad: Harsha Bhogle

The auction for the upcoming season of IPL is ready to be held on December 18 in Jaipur. Prior to this all-important event, all the franchises are busy finishing their last-minute efforts and deciding on the players they should pick. While choosing the players, one thing all the franchises will have to keep in mind this time is their availability for the full season as the World Cup 2019 will start right after the IPL.

Australian and English players have already confirmed that they will not be available for the entirety of the season. Which means the teams that do pick internationals from these two sides will also need to have backup options. Recently, analyst Harsha Bhogle said that in this IPL auction, all the franchises should pick those players who might not be picked in their respective national teams for the upcoming World Cup.

Players will leave early

“This is the most peculiar IPL year of all because it is an election year and a World Cup year – World Cup is after IPL. Why am I mentioning all this because there are a lot of implications of what you do in the auction. Players will leave early. You gotta pick players, ironically, who may not make the World Cup squads because they will be available to you for much longer,” Bhogle said in a video on Cricbuzz.

He further mentioned that the franchises will surely look for South African players who will be available till the 10th of May as the tournament is expected to conclude around 17th or 18th of May. The Indian players who feature in the World Cup squad will also have a cap on their participation to balance the workload.

There will be a lot of emphasis on Windies and New Zealand players who will be available for the full season. Cricket Australia and the players on their own have decided to restrict their participation. The likes of Aaron Finch and Glenn Maxwell have pulled out of the tournament so have Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins.

The IPL is to start earlier than usual this year due to the proximity to the World Cup as well as the general elections in India.

~ Written by Shruti Banerjee

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