574 players for IPL auctions: 366 Indians, Pant, Iyer in top bracket, 13-year-old Vaibhav youngest
New Delhi, Nov 15: Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul and Arshdeep Singh will headline a 574-strong list of players with top base price of Rs 2 crore at the upcoming Indian Premier League auction scheduled in Saudi Arabia's Jeddah on November 24 and 25.
Thirteen-year-old India U-19 cricketer Vaibhav Suryavanshi from Bihar is the youngest among the lot at Rs 30 lakh base price.
The BCCI on Friday pruned the initial list of 1574 players down to 574 out of which 366 are Indians and 208 from overseas. All the current India players are in top base price bracket.
Apart from Pant, set to be the costliest buy at the auction with a team like Punjab Kings aiming to go the distance with Rs 110.50 crore in its kitty, the other big names include IPL winning captain Shreyas Iyer, India's most prolific T20I bowler Arshdeep Singh, KL Rahul, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal and Avesh Khan.
There are 81 players in the top bracket while 27 are in Rs 1.5 crore category. There are 18 in the Rs 1.25 crore category while 23 have priced themselves at Rs 1 crore.
Jos Buttler of England also enjoys the top base price bracket of Rs 2 crore along with countrymen Harry Brook and Jonny Bairstow while the retired James Anderson, at Rs 1.25 crore base price, has made it to the curtailed list despite T20 not being his strongest format.
The biggest names in the top bracket from overseas are Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje from South Africa, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Starc from Australia. Marco Jansen and Rachin Ravindra are priced at Rs 1.25 crore.
There are 48 capped Indians while 193 are capped overseas players.
Former India U-19 World Cup winning skipper Unmukt Chand, who has migrated to the United States, has made the cut as Associate member nation player while seamer Saurabh Nethravalkar, who was a revelation during T20 World Cup, wasn't shortlisted.
Italy's Thomas Draca, who plays for MI Emirates, also didn't make the cut.
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Andhra to be developed as knowledge, creator economy hub: CM Naidu
New Delhi/Amaravati (PTI): Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Friday said the state is taking steps to transform itself into a knowledge and creator economy hub with a strong focus on artificial intelligence and quantum technology.
He noted that Andhra Pradesh has abundant tech-driven youth and the government is formulating plans to train them in futuristic technologies with support from global technology firms.
"Our goal is to transform Andhra Pradesh into a knowledge hub by focusing on AI, quantum computing, data centres, drone cities and space cities. The youth will remain our biggest asset over the next 25 years, and we seek global partnerships to scale up the creator economy," said Naidu during his interactions at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 in Delhi.
Naidu, who participated in the summit in the national capital, also held meetings with several global technology leaders and industrialists to explore collaborations in artificial intelligence, clean energy and innovation ecosystems.
He met Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen, Autodesk AI Head Mike Haley, Aramco India Director Abdul Rehman AiThukair, LEGO Education Vice President Tom Hall, Aadhaar Founder and CTO Srikanth Nadhamuni, Khosla Ventures Managing Partner Vinod Khosla and others at the AP Pavilion.
The chief minister also held discussions with Saudi Aramco representatives on clean energy projects, including solar initiatives, and invited the company to expand operations in Andhra Pradesh, stating that the state is highly suitable for green energy production.
He sought support from NVIDIA Vice President Callista Redmond for establishing AI Living Labs and proposed partnerships through the Ratan Tata Innovation Hub to promote youth innovation, including collaborations with IIT Tirupati and Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Tirupati under the Andhra Pradesh Future Innovation and Research for Science and Technology (AP FIRST) initiative.
Naidu urged Autodesk leadership to support the development of Global Capability Centres in design engineering and requested the establishment of an Innovation Academy in Amaravati aligned with quantum technology, besides proposing AI and robotics learning labs in partnership with LEGO Education.
He also discussed AI-driven smart governance solutions with Quantela Inc Chairman Sridhar Gadhi, while World Bank Group Digital AI Regional Director Mahesh Uttamchandani met Naidu on the sidelines of the summit.
Following the meetings, Naidu visited various exhibition stalls at the summit, including those of NVIDIA, Tata, Intel and Microsoft, and reviewed AI applications across agriculture, healthcare and industry.
