Delhi: Preparations for the auction of the fifth edition of SA20 have been completed. A total of 156 players have been shortlisted for this auction to be held on October 7, which includes 95 South African and 61 foreign players. This time 789 players had registered their names for the auction, but the number of players who made it to the final list was reduced to 156.

Many big names including Faf du Plessis included

South Africa's experienced batsman Faf du Plessis is among the most talked about names in the auction.

He has previously captained Joburg Super Kings and will now be available in the auction. 42-year-old Du Plessis scored the most runs in the recently concluded ETPL season. Apart from this, in the last SA20 season, he played five matches and scored 135 runs at a strike rate of 151.7. However, he had to bow out of the tournament due to a thumb injury. At the same time, Rassie van der Dussen, Wiaan Mulder and Nandre Berger are also included in the list of South African players.

List of foreign players also revealed

There are many experienced T20 cricketers in the pool of foreign players. Names like Kieron Pollard, Trent Boult, Shimron Hetmyer, Shamar Joseph, Mohammad Nabi, AM Ghazanfar, Jordan Cox, Annerin Donald, Rihan Ahmed and Richard Gleeson are part of this list. With their inclusion, competition in the auction is expected to increase.

Keep an eye on under-23 players also

Fast bowler Matthew Boast and former South Africa Under-19 team captain Jason Rawls are prominent names in the Under-23 category. Matthew Bost had earlier been among the players who received the joint most expensive bid in the second SA20 auction.

Bidding will be held for 19 places

Ahead of the auction, Durban Super Giants and Paarl Royals have completed their 19-man squads, while Joburg Super Kings and MI Cape Town have six spots each vacant. Apart from this, Pretoria Capitals need five players and Sunrisers Eastern Cape need two players. A total amount of 21 lakh 10 thousand US dollars is available with these four teams.

Joburg Super Kings has the highest amount ($12 lakh 40 thousand). MI Cape Town has a purse of $5 lakh 62 thousand 813, Sunrisers Eastern Cape has $2 lakh 16 thousand 699 and Pretoria Capitals has a purse of $88 thousand 786.