Black Caps Rachin Ravindra and Adam Milne. Photo: Andrew Cornaga/www.photosport.nz
Allrounder Rachin Ravindra's fate in Tuesday night's Indian Premier League auction is on the mind of two of his Black Caps team mates who are also hoping to get picked up by one of the 10 franchises for next year's T20 competition.
Ravindra is one of 14 New Zealanders going under the hammer in the televised auction in Dubai.
It is the first time Ravindra has put his name in the mix and he could attract plenty of interest from IPL franchises despite not being selected for the Black Caps' upcoming T20 series against Bangladesh.
Bowler Adam Milne who has played for three IPL teams and is part of the auction for the 2024 competition said if Ravindra was to be picked up he should "enjoy it".
Milne has a base price of almost $200,000.
"The IPL can be crazy at times but it is also a great thing for the game of cricket and for players in New Zealand to get that opportunity to be around some of the best players in the world to learn off them.
"Rachin's showed what a class player he is at the world cup so I'll be excited to see him to go over there if he gets picked up.
"It can all be a bit of a lottery at times."
Asked if he thought Ravindra could be a star in the IPL Milne was effusive.
"He's already a bit of a star isn't he. He's scored a number of runs over in that world cup so for a man that has worked as hard as he has, I've seen him behind the scenes in Wellington and he works incredibly hard on his game so I've got no doubt that he can succeed to be one of New Zealand's greatest hopefully."
Players set their base price in the auction and Ravindra was asking for 50 lakh ($98,000) - the same amount that Mark Chapman wanted.
Chapman said he would keep a close eye on how Ravindra fared.
"You always have hope that you might get picked up but to be honest I'm probably more interested in watching what happens with Rachin."
While Ravindra and Chapman had entered at the lower end of the auction, at the opposite end of the scale Black Caps pace bowler Lockie Ferguson had set his price at 200 lakh ($392,000).
Ferguson, who had been around the IPL since 2017, was released by the Kolkata Knight Riders this year.
Like Ferguson and Milne, Tim Southee, Kyle Jamieson, Finn Allen, Michael Bracewell, Jimmy Neesham, Colin Munro, Ish Sodhi, Daryl Mitchell and Matt Henry were also wanting to get back into the IPL with base prices ranging from 150 lakh ($294,000) to 75 lakh ($147,000).
There are only spaces for 30 overseas players to be signed in Tuesday's auction so some New Zealanders could miss out.
However, there will be five New Zealanders guaranteed to be playing in the IPL next year with Black Caps captain Kane Williamson returning to the Gujarat Titans.
Mitch Santner and Devon Conway are with the Chennai Super Kings, Trent Boult the Rajistan Royals and Glenn Phillips the Sunrisers Hyderabad.