No Chris Gayle, Ben Stokes among 1214 player who registered for ITL 2022 mega auction

A total of 1214 players from different countries have registered for the mega auction for Indian T20 League 2022. Out of these, 896 players are from India, while the rest 318 are from overseas countries. Dividing further, 270 are capped, 903 are uncapped and 41 are associate players. 

The 318 overseas players belong to 18 different nations. 59 players are from Australia, which is the highest. From South Africa, 48 players have registered. 41 players from West Indies, 36 players from Sri Lanka and 30 players from England will also go under the hammer. 29 players from New Zealand and 20 from Afghanistan will also enter the auction. To everyone's surprise, 15 players from Nepal and 14 players from the United States of America have also put their names in the hat. 

From Bangladesh, nine players have registered, while five are from Namibia. Three each from Ireland and Oman, two from Zimbabwe and one each from Bhutan, Netherlands, Scotland and the United Arab Emirates also make the list.

33 players have been retained/picked ahead of the player auction. The existing eight ITL franchises have retained a total of 27 players, while the 2 new ITL teams have picked three players each ahead of the auction. A BCCI media advisory revealed that if the franchises are allowed to pick 25 players, 217 players, including 70 overseas players will go under the hammer in the auction.

"if every franchise were to have the maximum of 25 players in their squad, 217 players will be taken in the auction (of which up to 70 may be overseas players)," the media advisory said.

"The two-day Mega Auction will see 10 Teams bidding for some of the finest talents in world cricket," the advisory added.

Meanwhile, much to the disappointment of fans, several big names like Mitchell Starc, Ben Stokes, Chris Gayle among others won't be taking part in the auction.