After the existing eight franchises announcing their retentions and the new teams unveiling their draft picks, all eyes are now on the IPL 2022 mega auction, scheduled for February 12 and 13.

A total of 1,214 players (896 Indian and 318 overseas) have registered to be a part of the mega auction. The list incorporates 270 capped, 903 uncapped and 41 Associate players.

Ahead of the auction, veteran commentator Harsha Bhogle has named two players who are expected to attract huge bids and they are young wicketkeeper batter Ishan Kishan and emerging Tamil Nadu batter Shahrukh Khan.

“Ishan Kishan, because he ticks off an Indian player, left-hander, wicketkeeper… left-hand top-order wicketkeeper, that’s three boxes you’re looking for,” Bhogle said while speaking on Cricbuzz.

Speaking about Shahrukh, the renowned commentator said: “I’m expecting him to do really well this year because there is a spark about him, and he’s got a huge presence at the crease. He’s big built, a bit like Yusuf Pathan. You know, Yusuf Pathan in his prime when he was batting, he had that presence about him at the crease, and I find a little bit of that in Shahrukh Khan.”

Ishan Kishan was part of the highly successful Mumbai Indians (MI) franchise since 2018 after being roped in for 6.20 crore. He played a key role in MI’s IPL triumph in the 2019 and 2020 editions. The southpaw has been released by the five-time champions and it would be interesting to see whether they bid for him again at the mega auction.

On the other hand, Shahrukh Khan was signed by the Punjab Kings for INR 5.25 crores in the IPL 2021 auction. He featured in 11 games last season, scoring 153 runs at a strike rate of 134.21. The swashbuckler decided to enter into the auction instead of getting retained by PBKS.