Cummins and Woakes could earn big in IPL 2020 Auction, feels Ricky Ponting

Ricky Ponting, the former Australian cricketer, reckons that the likes of Pat Cummins and Chris Woakes could set the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 Auction ablaze. Even as the 26-year-old Cummins features in the highest bracket of INR 2 crore, Englishman Woakes has registered himself at INR 1.5 crores. Both of them have prior experience of playing in the cash-rich league.

Ponting, who’s the head coach of the Delhi Capitals, said that the all-rounders are likely to fetch lucrative deals in the auction. Apart from Cummins and Woakes, even players like Jimmy Neesham, Glenn Maxwell and a few others could end up with massive amounts from the auction.

“Pat Cummins could go for big money, as could Chris Woakes. All-rounders are always interesting in my opinion. Players like Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Marsh, Jimmy Neesham, Colin de Grandhomme could all be big picks,” Ponting was quoted as saying in a Delhi Capitals’ press release.

The IPL Auction is all set to take place on December 19 in Kolkata and it will be the maiden time when the City of Joy will be hosting the same. To start with, 971 players registered for the auction with only 73 slots to be filled. However, later, the numbers were reduced to 332. There will 186 Indians, 143 overseas and three from Associate nations, who will be taking part in the auction.

Ricky Ponting and Co are well prepared for the IPL 2020 Auction

The Capitals under Ponting’s tutelage did reasonably well last season. The team, captained by Shreyas Iyer, qualified for the second Qualifier before bowing down to MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings (CSK). They will be going into the auction, needing to fill 11 slots, five of which are overseas, with an available purse of 27.85 crores.

Meanwhile, Ponting doesn’t wish to predict the occurring in the auction. “We’ve had several discussions over the last few months, and have put in a lot of time and effort to make sure that we’re well prepared. You can do all the planning in the world, but at the auction table, the unpredictable always happens,” the 2003 and 2007 World Cup-winning captain added.