Sandeep, Sardar command top base price of Rs 15 lakh at HIL

India captain Sardar Singh and ace dragflicker Sandeep Singh will command the highest base-price of Rs 15 lakh each at the upcoming players' auction of the cash-rich Hockey India League (HIL) slated on Sunday.

Sardar and Sandeep, with reserve price of USD 27,800 each are the players with highest base-price among the Indians as well as foreign players.
A list of 246 players issued by HI to be auctioned have been divided into 13 base-price categories ranging from Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 15 lakh.

A base price of Rs 13.5 lakh has been kept for Australia's captain Jamie Dwyer along with countryman Glenn Turner, Maritz Fuertse and Oliver Korn (Germany), Mohammad Imran and Mahmood Rashid (Pakistan), Pol Amat (Spain).

Netherland's prolific penalty corner specialist Taeke Taekema and Teun De Nooijer are also in the same bracket which is equivalent to USD 25,000.
The base price for ex-captain Shivendra Singh and Gurbaj Singh is Rs 10 lakh, while teams looking to buy Ignace Tirkey and Tushar Khandekar will have to start their bidding from Rs 7.5 lakh.

Custodian Bharat Chettri, who led India at the London Olympics carries a
base price tag of Rs 10 lakh (approx) while fellow goalie PR Sreejesh is priced at approximately Rs 7.5 lakh.

Till now only five bids for ownership of the franchises have been received while HIL is planning a six-team league.

The companies owning the five franchises are Delhi (Wave group), Ranchi (Patel- Uniexcel group), Punjab (Jaypee group), Lucknow (Sahara India) and Mumbai (Burman family).

Notable Players under the Hammer

Indians

Base Price: Rs 10 lakh (approx): Gurbaj Singh; Shivendra Singh.
Base Price Rs 7.5 lakh (approx): Ignace Tirkey; V Raghunath; Danish Mujtaba; Gurvinder Chandi; SV Sunil; Sarvanjit Singh; Tushar Khadekar.
Base Price Rs 5 lakh (approx): Rupinder Pal Singh, Birendra Lakra, Kothajit Singh, Manpreet Singh, SK Uthappa, Yuvraj Walmiki, Nithin Thimmaiah.
Notable Foreign Recruits

Base Price Rs 13.5 lakh; Taeke Taekema; Teun De Nooijer (Both NED), Jamie Dwyer; Glenn Turner (Both AUS); Maritz Fuertse, Oliver Korn (Both GER), Mohammad Imran, Mahmood Rashid (Both PAK), Pol Amat (ESP); Justin Reid Ross (SA)

Base Price: Rs 11 lakh;  Jaap Stockmann; Marcel Balkestein (Both NED); Mohammad Rizwan Sr (PAK); Simon Child (NZ); Austin Smith (SA); Mark  Knowles, Joel Caroll, Luke Doerner (all from AUS).