NEW DELHI: Cameron Green is set to emerge as one of the most sought-after names at the IPL mini-auction in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, with the scarcity of seam-bowling all-rounders likely to push his value sky high. Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings are expected to go all out for the Australian, capitalising on a market heavily tilted in favour of multi-skilled fast-bowling options.

Across the 10 franchises, 77 slots are up for grabs with a combined purse of Rs 237.55 crore. Mumbai Indians, however, are unlikely to be major players at the auction, entering with a modest purse of Rs 2.75 crore and expected to focus largely on uncapped signings at base price.

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Green is tipped to command a hefty bid alongside England power-hitter Liam Livingstone and out-of-favour India all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer, both of whom are also expected to attract strong interest.

Among the franchises, KKR hold the strongest hand with a massive purse of Rs 64.30 crore and 13 slots to fill as they look to reshape their squad. Chennai Super Kings, armed with Rs 43.40 crore, appear to be the only team capable of matching KKR's financial muscle in the bidding war.

The IPL mini-auction often proves more compelling than a mega auction, as franchises arrive with clearly defined targets and are willing to stretch their budgets to secure players who offer specialised skill sets.

Seam-bowling all-rounders, in particular, command a premium, and the trio of Cameron Green, Venkatesh Iyer and West Indies all-rounder Jason Holder - each listed at the top base price of Rs 2 crore (USD 220,000) - are expected to be at the centre of an intense bidding battle.

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If one looks at their IPL stats, Green, especially, has middling numbers -- 704 runs and 16 wickets in the 29 matches -- but the mini-auction is more demand-driven activity and an Australian all-format regular is certain to get traction.

When it comes to Venkatesh, everyone save KKR CEO Venky Mysore, believed that an auction bid of Rs 23.75 crore was way too high and the player had his worst season trying to justify the price.

Having also released Andre Russell, who is the team's new "Power Coach", KKR are in need of at least two good top order batters and one all-rounder.

The third of three pace-bowling all-rounders, Holder, may be a low key name but he is equally adept at using the long handle and bowl those heavy balls, making him useful in a smaller auction with lesser options.

Green will get only Rs 18 crore

There is buzz that Green might surpass countryman Mitchell Starc (Rs 24.75 crore) to become the overseas player with the highest price tag at an IPL auction but there would still remain a catch.

Even if Green's bid goes northwards of Rs 25 crore, his salary for the season would still be Rs 18 crore (USD 1.9 million).

The bid amount and players' salary would be mutually exclusive with the former being deducted from team's annual player purse.

The reason being IPL's "maximum-fee" rule which states that a foreign player's maximum fee at a mini auction will be the lower value between the highest retention slab (Rs 18 crore) and the highest price at the previous mega auction (Rs 27 crore for Rishabh Pant in 2025).

In case of Venkatesh, it will be interesting if his bid value goes over and above Rs 10 crore (USD 1.1 million), which is a fair deal given his skill-set and capabilities.

In a mini-auction, there is no scope for using the Right To Match (RTM) card and hence KKR, if they want to get back Venkatesh, will have to make some smart calls.

Livingstone, De Kock could be in high demand

England swashbuckler Liam Livingstone, who can also bowl handy spin is another player, who can hit the million dollar mark (Rs 9 crore) along with Quinton de Kock, who has time and again shown that he is a match-winner with the bat aside from being safe as a house behind the stumps.

For Livingstone, destroying Rashid Khan's mystery by smashing him for 26 runs in a 'Hundred' game for Birmingham Phoenix is likely to make him sought-after name.

Uncapped Indians Prashant Veer, and Mukul Choudhary will attract bidders while Prithvi Shaw and Sarfaraz Khan would also hope that their low base price of Rs 75 lakh finds takers.

Pathirana, Duffy and uncapped Ashok Sharma

Matheesha Pathirana was released by CSK but teams like Lucknow Super Giants (purse of Rs 22.95 crore) might bid aggressively as their fast bowling resources look depleted despite the presence of Mohammed Shami and a perennially injured Mayank Yadav.

However, Pathirana is believed to have remodelled his action but whether CSK will be interested in him is a big question.

Also on the list is Jacob Duffy, the New Zealand paceman who has already made a name for himself in the T20I circuit and is one of the top-rated players in the ICC rankings.

Among uncapped Indians, Ashok Sharma, who has previously been a part of IPL teams and is in the midst of a fine Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy campaign, is expected to attract very good bids.

(With PTI Inputs)