Teenage rising star Rehan Ahmed could take another step in his rapid ascent through the ranks of world cricket by earning an Indian Premier League contract.
His fate is one of many dramatic storylines set to play out when the great IPL Auction carve-up kicks off on Friday.
Aussie Cameron Green is widely tipped to be the big break-out Aussie star and is set to be the latest million-dollar man, having set his reserve price in the highest category available.
On the global scale, England’s Sam Curran has emerged as the man most likely to challenge the record as the most expensive player in the history of the mega-rich tournament.
South African Chris Morris has held the record since the 2021 Auction after going for an insane price of 16.25 crore ($2.9 million) to the Rajasthan Royals.
Ben Stokes and Green are seen by many as the outsiders alongside Curran with the potential to shatter the previous record.
Curran was dominant during the T20 World Cup in Australia and it is his versatility that makes him so attractive to many teams.
Meanwhile, 18-year-old leg-spinner Ahmed chose the perfect time to announce himself to the cricketing world with his sensational performances against Pakistan.
Ahmed is one of 27 English players who will go under the hammer. There had been reports Ahmed would ignore the lure of the Twenty20 franchise competition in order to start the County Championship season with Leicestershire in April.
But even though Ahmed had played just three first-class matches before making his Test debut, the England management believe the IPL could aid, rather than hamper, his development.
He became England’s youngest men’s Test cricketer when he made his debut in the recently completed series finale in Pakistan.
He then became the youngest debutant from any country to take five wickets in an innings, with his haul of 5-48 in Karachi helping England to a 3-0 series whitewash.
His performance in an eight-wicket win alerted the rest of the cricketing world to his undoubted ability and came just days before Friday’s player auction in Kochi for the money-spinning IPL.
England red-ball coach Brendon McCullum, a seasoned IPL campaigner, was enthusiastic about the prospect of Ahmed playing in a tournament that features numerous global cricket stars.
The former New Zealand captain, speaking to BBC Radio this week, said: “It would be awesome if he (Ahmed) did. I’ve been involved with the IPL a couple of times so sometimes it works out for guys and sometimes it doesn’t. Why not?”
McCullum added: “Why not get an opportunity to go and play under different coaches and different captains and rub shoulders with different players and pick up those experiences? What 18-year-old kid anywhere else in world cricket is going to get those chances? I think we should encourage it.”
A whopping 405 cricketers have nominated for the talent carve-up — 273 from India and 132 from overseas.
Only a maximum of 87 players — 57 from India and 30 international cricketers — can be selected.
Australian trio Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Steve Smith won’t be part of it, having elected not to play the tournament.
However, 21 Australians have nominated for the auction.
Full list of players with highest reserve prices
Two Crore ($360,000) group: Nathan Coulter-Nile, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Chris Lynn, Tom Banton, Sam Curran, Chris Jordan, Tymal Mills, Jamie Overton, Craig Overton, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Ben Stokes, Adam Milne, Jimmy Neesham, Kane Williamson, Rilee Rossouw, Rassie van der Dussen, Angelo Mathews, Nicholas Pooran, Jason Holder
1.5 crore ($270,000) group: Sean Abbott, Riley Meredith, Jhye Richardson, Adam Zampa, Shakib Al Hasan, Harry Brook, Will Jacks, Dawid Malan, Jason Roy, Sherfane Rutherford
One Crore ($180,000) group: Mayank Agarwal, Kedar Jadhav, Manish Pandey, Mohammad Nabi, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Moises Henriques, Andrew Tye, Joe Root, Luke Wood, Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Martin Guptill, Kyle Jamieson, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Heinrich Klaasen, Tabraiz Shamsi, Kusal Perera, Roston Chase, Rakheem Cornwall, Shai Hope, Akeal Hossein, David Wiese
Full list of Australians in the 2023 IPL Auction
INR 2 crore (approx. $A360,000): Cam Green, Travis Head, Chris Lynn
INR 1.5 crore (approx. $A270,000: Jhye Richardson, Adam Zampa, Riley Meredith, Sean Abbott, Nathan Coulter-Nile
INR 1 crore (approx. $A180,000): Andrew Tye, Moises Henriques
INR 75 lakh (approx. $A135,000) : Daniel Sams, Josh Philippe, D’Arcy Short
INR 50 lakh (approx. $A90,000): Ben McDermott, Ben Dwarshuis, Billy Stanlake
INR 30 lakh (approx. $A55,000): Lance Morris
INR 20 lakh (approx. $A35,000): Hayden Kerr, Jack Prestwidge, Peter Hatzoglou, Nathan McAndrew
Australians already retained
Josh Hazlewood (Royal Challengers Bangalore)
Glenn Maxwell (Royal Challengers Bangalore)
David Warner (Delhi Capitals)
Mitch Marsh (Delhi Capitals)
Tim David (Mumbai Indians)
Jason Behrendorff (Mumbai Indians)
Matthew Wade (Gujurat Titans)
Marcus Stoinis (Lucknow Super Giants)
Nathan Ellis (Punjab Kings).