Five Australians in top bracket for IPL auction

New Delhi - Chris Lynn will be in the top bracket for Thursday's auction in Kolkata

 Five Australians are among seven overseas cricketers who have enlisted themselves at the highest base price of Rs20 million (about $279,000) for the Indian Premier League auction next week, the Indian cricket board (BCCI) said on Friday.
Australian fast bowlers Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, all-rounders Mitchell Marsh and Glenn Maxwell and batsman Chris Lynn will be in the top bracket for Thursday's auction in Kolkata for the 13th edition of the cash-rich Twenty20 tournament.
No Indian players have opted for the highest base price with experienced South African paceman Dale Steyn and Sri Lanka all-rounder Angelo Mathews rounding out the list.
Robin Uthappa was the only Indian player among the 10 that have opted for the next bracket of 15 million rupees, which also includes England limited-overs captain Eoin Morgan.
Auction for the 2020 IPL, which is typically held during the months of April and May, will see a total of 332 cricketers going under the hammer with the eight franchises looking to add players to the ones they have already retained.
Piyush Chawla, Yusuf Pathan and Jaydev Unadkat, who have also been released by their respective franchises, have set a base price of Rs10 million crore. Among the capped foreign players, nine have set a base price of Rs15 million crore, 20 have a base price of Rs10 million, 16 have a base price of Rs7.5 million and 69 have a base price of Rs5 million.