Marquee player meaning in cricket: What is Marquee player in IPL auction?

Marquee player: A total of 10 players have been listed in the Marquee set ahead of Indian Premier League 2022 auction.

A total of 10 cricketers comprising of four batters, four fast bowlers, one wicket-keeper batter and a spinner will go under the hammer on priority basis in the mega auction for the upcoming 15th season of the Indian Premier League.

In the general run of things, an IPL auction sees players getting sold in order of their primary skill, i.e., batter, wicket-keeper batter, all-rounder and bowler. These skills, however, are categorized on the basis of if a player is capped or uncapped.

What is Marquee player in IPL auction?

A marquee set, on the other hand, is an elite category of leading players whose turn to go under the hammer comes in the first set itself. It is after these 10 players’ chance of alluring a bid comes an opportunity for other players who are sold on the basis of their primary skill (as mentioned above).

India batters Shikhar Dhawan (Delhi Capitals in IPL 2021) and Shreyas Iyer (Capitals), Australia batter David Warner (Sunrisers Hyderabad), former South Africa captain Faf du Plessis (Chennai Super Kings), India fast bowler Mohammed Shami (Punjab Kings), Australia Test captain Pat Cummins (Kolkata Knight Riders), New Zealand fast bowler Trent Boult (Mumbai Indians), South Africa fast bowler Kagiso Rabada (Capitals), South Africa wicket-keeper batter Quinton de Kock (Indians) and India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (Capitals) are the 10 players whose names will kick-start the mega auction.

As far as IPL 2021 squads are concerned, Capitals have as many as four nominations in the marquee set for IPL 2022 auction. Indians, most successful IPL franchise ever, have a couple of players from their IPL 2021 squad. While Sunrisers, Super Kings, Kings and Knight Riders have a player each, Rajasthan Royals is the only team to not have an IPL 2021 player in the marquee set.

There is no hiding to the fact that these aforementioned players are highly likely to earn opulent amounts individually in IPL 2022 auction. Some high-profile names to have missed out on the marquee set are Ishan Kishan, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Dinesh Karthik, Jason Holder, Jonny Bairstow, Mitchell Marsh etc.