Up against a veritable who’s who of T20 guns for hire, what chance does a relatively unknown uncapped player from a non-Test county have of attracting a bid? Maybe not none, as it turns out.

For starters, from a purely economic point of view, they represent good investment. Uncapped international players are able to list themselves at a bargain basement price of 40 lakhs, and could represent value for money.

The timing of the IPL also works in their favour. Coinciding near enough with the start of the English county season, players arrive primed from a season of winter training, rather than exhausted from their own domestic competitions.

Finally, being unlikely to earn international call-ups means they will be available for the whole season. The likes of Chris Woakes and Jonny Bairstow will have to miss the latter stages of the competition to prepare for the World Cup. For those listed below, that shouldn’t be an issue. There may not be much fanfare around them at the moment, but the 2019 IPL auction could just change their lives.

Lewis Gregory

County: Somerset
Role: Seam-bowling all-rounder
T20 career: 79 matches, 969 runs at 23.07, strike rate of 148.39; 75 wickets at 27.88, economy rate of 8.96

An uncapped 31-year-old from Lambeth in the IPL? Doesn’t sound right but it could happen. He might not be the most obvious pick, but he has a strong case as a consistent top-order bat who packs a punch. He was the top-scorer in this year’s Blast with 614 runs as he helped propel Sussex to the final.

Evans carried that form into the Afghanistan Premier League in October, averaging an impressive 61 from nine matches. In Jofra Archer and Rashid Khan, two Sussex teammates, he has very good friends to have. They saw his talent at close quarters and given his cheap base price (40 lakhs), they may well recommend him to their respective franchises as an attractive purchase.

A staggering career-best 96 from 67 balls against Somerset in August featured 10 fours and two sixes. Evans’ power is not something to be frowned upon.