Over 1,000 cricketers have registered for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018 Players Auction in Bengaluru on January 27 and 28. According to Delhi Daredevils (DD) coach and batting legend Ricky Ponting, a "big payday" is awaiting an uncapped Australian.
Recently, DD appointed Ponting as their head coach for the 11th edition of IPL. The Australian batting great has previously captained and coached Mumbai Indians (MI). Ahead of the mega auction, he has closely seen an Australian player emerging as a Twenty20 star.
The batsman who is making headlines in Australia is D'Arcy Short, who plays for Hobart Hurricanes. He has already broken the record for most runs in a single Big Bash League (BBL), which is currently under way in Australia.
Short is yet to play international cricket but could soon debut in the shortest format of the game. He has so far played six first-class, 12 List A (50 overs) and 16 T20 matches.
The 27-year-old left-hander has amassed 465 runs from seven matches with a highest of 122 not out. And he has impressed Ponting, who is now Australian T20 team's assistant coach.
"Whatever he goes for will be a big payday for him (given) he's put himself into the (IPL 2018) auction at base price (about $AUD 40,000 - Rs 20 lakh)," Ponting told Cricket Australia's (CA) website today (January 17).
"Looking back now, he probably wishes he had put himself in a little bit more. But his base price shouldn't matter - he'll go for big money, or decent money, I'd imagine," he added.
Ponting feels with lot of IPL coaches watching Short in the current BBL, it could trigger a bidding war in Bengaluru next weekend.
"There will be more than one team looking at him I'm sure. You look around this Big Bash, you've got Stephen Fleming, Brad Hodge (coach of Kings XI Punjab), myself (Delhi Daredevils), Dan Vettori (Royal Challengers Bangalore).
"A lot of guys who are head coaches in the IPL and have seen him up close in the last few weeks. He'll fetch a good price," he opined.
The 43-year-old Ponting described Short as "complete package".
"He's confident, he's a very naturally talented and skilled player, he's not complicating things. When you combine all those things together, he's hitting the ball as well as anyone has hit the ball in the history of this tournament. He understands the game more now, he understands his own game more now. He's a pretty complete package," he said.
