England Test captain Joe Root and limited-overs counterpart Eoin Morgan will not feature in this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL) after going unsold during the tournament’s auction.
Root was a key performer for England as they reached the World T20 in India two years ago but did not attract any bids on Saturday and was not re-entered in the auction on day two.
It will be the first time that Middlesex’s Morgan has not featured in the IPL since 2010, having previously played for Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kolkata Knight Riders, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kings XI Punjab.
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Root and Morgan were not alone in a lack of interest being shown in them. England batsman Alex Hales did not receive any bids either despite being ranked eighth in the International Cricket Council’s T20 batting rankings.
Paceman Tymal Mills, the second most expensive player last year, also went unsold, as did wicketkeeper-batsman Jonny Bairstow, all-rounders David Willey and Tom Curran and seamer Liam Plunkett.
There was better news for Sussex all-rounder Chris Jordan as he was re-signed by the Sunrisers for £110,100, and in the second round of bidding Mark Wood and Sam Billings were recruited by Chennai Super Kings for £165,500 and £70,600 respectively.
England all-rounder Ben Stokes, who is set to appear in court on 13 February charged with affray, commanded the highest price of the auction when he was sold to Rajasthan Royals for £1.4m on Saturday.
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