Eoin Morgan, Rassie van der Dussen make late entries to IPL auction

Eoin Morgan, England's limited-overs captain, has been added to the player list for Tuesday's IPL auction, alongside four other late inclusions: South Africa's Rassie van der Dussen, uncapped Australian Riley Meredith, and Indians Mayank Dagar and Pranav Gupta.

Morgan will be entered at the highest base price of INR 2 crore (USD 280,000), putting him in the same bracket as IPL veterans such as Brendon McCullum, Lasith Malinga and Shaun Marsh. Van der Dussen is priced at INR 50 lakh (USD 70,000), Meredith INR 40 lakh (USD 55,600), with Dagar and Gupta listed at the lowest reserve price of INR 20 lakhs (USD 27,800).

The late additions, bringing the overall number of players involved in the auction to 351, came after franchises expressed an interest in their involvement to the BCCI.

Van der Dussen, who was on the original long list, put his name back into the auction pool after making his third consecutive Mzansi Super League fifty on Sunday, a knock that sealed the inaugural title for his team, Jozi Stars. He was the highest run-getter in the tournament.

He won the inaugural Global T20 Canada with Vancouver Knights, whose head coach Donovan Miller then called him up for his CPL team St Kitts & Nevis Patriots. Van der Dussen is highly rated for his batting in the middle overs, particularly for his ability to hit big at the end, skills that he honed through crossfit and kickboxing, among other things. His rising fame in the format and recent form could well make him the subject of a bidding war.

Of the two Indian players to enter the fray, batsman Gupta is one of six Jammu & Kashmir players in the pool, while allrounder Dagar is a former India Under-19 player and Virender Sehwag's nephew. He was picked up by Kings XI Punjab last year.

Meredith, a rookie seamer, has only played in two T20 games, both for Hobart Hurricanes in February this year.

Morgan went unsold in the auction for the 2018 IPL but has previously played for four franchises, most recently in 2017 with Kings XI Punjab. He takes the number of England players interested in the proceedings in Jaipur to 19.

Several, including Jonny Bairstow, Alex Hales and Sam Curran, will hope to attract bids, although the question of limited availability could deter franchises. Centrally contracted England players such as Morgan and Bairstow will be expected to return on April 25, ahead of preparations for the World Cup - meaning they would miss the last three weeks of the IPL.