IPL 2022: 30 English players sign up for mega auction

National red-ball captain Joe Root, his deputy Ben Stokes, allrounder Chris Woakes and Sam Curran - who is recovering from injury - are all conspicuous in their absence from the list of 1,214 players put forward

A total of 30 English cricketers have made themselves available for selection in the 2022 Indian Premier League mega auction.

The 10 IPL franchises are set to make their picks in the two-day event on February 12 and 13 in Bangalore, with many of England's top white-ball players involved.

Jonny Bairstow, Eoin Morgan, James Vince, Tymal Mills, Sam Billings and Adil Rashid are among those who will hope to pick up a significant contract.

Several Test regulars, however, have opted out of the auction.

National red-ball captain Joe Root and his deputy Ben Stokes were already known not to be involved, while allrounder Chris Woakes and Sam Curran - who is recovering from injury - are conspicuous in their absence from the list of 1,214 players put forward, according to reports in India.

Root said after the Ashes debacle in Australia that he would "sacrifice" as necessary to help rebuild the Test team.

He had only previously entered the IPL auction once, in 2018, when he went unsold.

^{Joe Root and Ben Stokes are not involved in the IPL mega auction (William West/AFP via Getty Images)}

"There’s a lot that we need to do for this team, which deserves all of my energy. I’ll keep sacrificing as much as I can because I care so much about Test cricket in our country and trying to get us to where we want to be," Root said in the aftermath of defeat in Hobart last week.

Jofra Archer is another star English cricketer who will not be involved in the auction.

Archer, who bowled very gently in the nets in Barbados on Friday after linking up with England's T20 squad in the Caribbean, is in a rehabilitation period following surgery on his elbow. 

He is not expected to return to competitive action until the summer. 

One English quick who is available to Indian Premier League franchises in 2022, however, is Mark Wood.

The Durham seamer, who enjoyed a good Ashes campaign, can expect a lucrative deal. He pulled out of the 2021 auction and only has one appearance in the competition to his name, but impressed during the World Cup in the UAE.

"If I look ahead to the World Cup and I can learn something in the IPL, if I can put myself in pressure situations and try and get better for the end of the year, that’ll be good," Wood said about the IPL earlier this month.

"From a financial side of things, it’s great to go in but actually the reason I’d want to go in is cricketing reasons because of what’s to come with England.

"I just felt the reason I’d have gone last year was purely financial and the time I’d miss with my son I’d never get back. If I was to go this year, it would be about trying to improve and put myself in those pressure situations for later."

^{Root has said he will "sacrifice" as necessary to help rebuild red-ball cricket in England (William West/AFP via Getty Images)}

It remains to be seen what restrictions, if any, the ECB places on centrally contracted English players' involvement in the IPL.

Ashley Giles, the managing director of England men's cricket, has been tasked with compiling a report on the miserable performance of the senior side in the Ashes and is set to propose a plan to rebuild the Test side.

Part of that plan could include a limit on the length of time English players can play in the IPL, whose season has been extended to a full two months following its expansion to 10 teams.

The competition is due to run from the last week of March until the end of May, with the knockout rounds overlapping with preparations for the Test summer - which begins with the visit of New Zealand. 

Two Englishmen have already been confirmed as being involved in the 2022 Indian Premier League: Jos Buttler has been retained by Rajasthan Royals, and Moeen Ali by Chennai Super Kings.

Moeen has already retired from Test cricket, while Buttler may well have played his last red-ball match for his country, having left the Ashes tour early with a broken finger. 

The BCCI will trim the longlist of potential auctionees after receiving the 10 franchises' feedback, ahead of next month's auction. The 10 teams were sent the longlist on Friday.

A total of 318 overseas players are on the longlist, spread across 18 countries. 

Up to 217 players could be recruited via the auction, of which 70 could be overseas imports.