New Delhi, Dec 2 (IANS): 971 players have registered for the upcoming auction for the 2020 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the league said in a release on Monday. 73 spots are up for grabs and the franchises have until 5 p.m., December 9 to submit their shortlist of players that will make the final auction list.

"The VIVO IPL Player Registration closed on 30th November with 971 players (713 Indian and 258 overseas players) signing up to be a part of the VIVO IPL 2020 Player Auction set to take place in Kolkata on 19th December 2019."

The league provided a breakdown of the registered players. 634 of the 971 are uncapped Indian players while 60 are uncapped Indian players who have played at least one IPL match. 60 more players are uncapped international players while there are 196 capped international players in the fray. 19 capped Indian players are in the list while two players are from associate nations.

Hugh Edmeades will once again be the auctioneer.

Among the foreign players, the most have come from Australia (55) while South Africa (54) comes a close second. There are 39 Sri Lankan players, 34 West Indies players, 24 players from New Zealand, 22 England players and 19 players from Afghanistan. There are only six players from Bangladesh, three from Zimbabwe and one from the USA.