IPL 2020: "Welcome to Sunrisers Hyderabad," David Warner to Mitchell Starc ahead of auction

Mitchell Starc may have decided to not be a part of the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) auction, the senior players of Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) are keen to get his services in the 2020 edition.

After the first Test between New Zealand and Australia ended on Sunday in Perth, David Warner - SRH's former captain - shared a picture that also had Kane Williamson and Stac. "Welcome to the @sunrisershyd @mstarc56," Warner wrote in an Instagram story.

Starc has not played in the IPL since the 2015 season. Even though he has been so irregular in the league, he was one of the top picks in last year's auction as Kolkata Knight Riders bought him for INR 9.4 crore. However, he suffered a leg injury during the South Africa series that forced him to miss the entire tournament.

According to news reports, Starc took out a policy that would pay him a $1.53 million benefit if he missed the IPL season through injury – but that payment was denied. Hence, Starc is has filed a lawsuit in the Victorian County Court in April against the insurers of his deal to play for the KKR.

A lot of Aussie players had decided to not play in the IPL 2019 to prepare for the World Cup. While those guys have included their names for the upcoming auction, Starc surprisingly decided not to enter the auction ahead of the IPL 2020.

Only four Australians – Steve Smith (Rajasthan Royals), David Warner and Billy Stanlake (Sunrisers Hyderabad) and Shane Watson (Chennai Super Kings) – were recently retained by their respective IPL franchises, ahead of the Dec. 19 draft.

Earlier, the IPL released the list of 332 players who are set to go under the hammer on Thursday. The original tally was 971 but then the IPL trimmed the final list of players to 332m including 19 Indian capped players.

The highest reserve price is INR 2 crore and only overseas players have decided to be slotted in that bracket. As many as seven foreign players, who will be auctioned in this category, are Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Chris Lynn, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Dale Steyn & Angelo Mathews.

Former KKR star Robin Uthappa is the only Indian player in the auction list with a base price of INR 1.5 crore. Other Indian stars, Piyush Chawla, Yusuf Pathan & Jaydev Unadkat have agreed with the base price at INR 1 crore.

A total of 186 Indian players, 143 overseas players and three players from Associate Nations will be up for grabs in the VIVO IPL 2020 Player Auction in Kolkata. The auction will start at 15:30 IST.