As many as 971 players have thrown their hat in the ring for the upcoming IPL auction to be held on December 19 in Kolkata © BCCI

As many as 971 players have thrown their hat in the ring for the upcoming IPL auction, to be held on December 19 in Kolkata. 713 Indian and 258 overseas players will jostle to make the final shortlist for just the 73 vacant spots across the eight teams.

Nineteen capped India players have registered themselves for the auction ahead of the 2020 season. There will be 634 uncapped Indian players, and further 60 players who are yet to make India debut but have at least played 1 IPL match (like Rajasthan Royals' Rahul Tripathi).

While one player each from the USA and the Netherlands have put forth their name, there are as many as 55 from Australia - including the in-form Chris Lynn who was released by KKR - and 54 from South Africa.

This big list of players will get pruned before it goes under the hammer at the auction. The franchises now need to submit their shortlist from the pool of registered players before the 5 PM IST deadline on December 9.

The country-wise breakdown of 258 overseas players:

Country Players Registered
Afghanistan 19
Australia 55
Bangladesh 6
England 22
Netherlands 1
New Zealand 24
South Africa 54
Sri Lanka 39
USA 1
West Indies 34
Zimbabwe 3