Instead of being one of the Australian players sweating if he will find a home in the Indian Premier League auction, Brad Hodge will have to make that call on many of his countrymen.
The still-formidable veteran was one of 38 Australians who nominated for this season's player auction, to be held on Saturday in Bangalore. Hodge has withdrawn because of his subsequent appointment as coach of Gujarat Lions, one of two new teams to feature in this year's elite domestic Twenty20 tournament.
The selection of Hodge, 41, is a significant recognition of how much he has impressed in recent years as a support coach in the Big Bash League while still playing. The other new team, Pune, plumped for Stephen Fleming, a two-time title winner with Chennai. 
Shane Watson is expected to be among of the mostly highly sought Australian players in the auction. Saturday's auction will be the first time the all-rounder has been available for purchase since the first year, with his team Rajasthan and Chennai now beginning a two-year ban. Their places have been filled by Hodge's Lions, based in Rajkot, and Fleming's Rising Pune Supergiants.
Players who nominate for the auction set a base price for themselves. Watson, Mike Hussey, Mitch Marsh and Kane Richardson are among the top bracket whose base price is 20 million rupees ($A416,000). They are followed by Brad Haddin, James Pattinson and Cameron White for 15 million ($312,000).
There will be significant interest on a few of the Australians with a base price of 10 million: Aaron Finch, because he is Twenty20 captain, and Usman Khawaja, because of his dazzling form across all formats. Khawaja is yet to play in the IPL.
With the auction to start in mid-afternoon Australian time many players will be busy during it, playing in either Australia's second one-dayer against New Zealand or in the Sheffield Shield.
Eleven Australians already hold IPL contracts: Mitch Johnson, Glenn Maxwell, David Warner, James Faulkner, Mitch Starc, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Steve Smith, Shaun Marsh, Chris Lynn, Moises Henriques and Brad Hogg.
The biggest spenders at the auction will be Delhi and Hyderabad, who shed many of their players from last season in order to have, respectively, 371.5 million ($7.62 million) and 301.5 million ($6.19 million) available at the auction.
UP FOR AUCTION
20m rupees ($A416,000)
 Mike Hussey
 Mitch Marsh
 Kane Richardson
 Shane Watson
15m rupees ($312,000)
 Brad Haddin
 |James Pattinson
 |Cameron White
10m rupees ($208,000)
 George Bailey
 Joe Burns
 Aaron Finch
 John Hastings
 David Hussey
 Usman Khawaja
 Nathan Lyon
 Shaun Tait
 Adam Voges
5m rupees ($104,000)
 Sean Abbott
 Ashton Agar
 Jackson Bird
 Scott Boland
 Johan Botha (lives in Australia, will qualify as local player next season)
 Cameron Boyce
 Ben Cutting
 Nic Maddinson
3m rupees ($62,000)
 Michael Beer
 Aiden Blizzard
 Ben Dunk
 Peter Handscomb
 Travis Head
 Michael Klinger
 Ben Laughlin
 Tim Ludeman
 Joel Paris
 Marcus Stoinis
 Andrew Tye
 Adam Zampa
2m rupees ($42,000)
 Alex Ross
1m rupees ($21,000)
 Cameron Bancroft

ALREADY CONTRACTED
65m rupees ($1.35 million): Mitch Johnson (Punjab)
60m rupees ($1.25 million): Glenn Maxwell (Punjab)
55m rupees ($1.14 million): David Warner (Hyderabad)
51m rupees ($1.06 million): James Faulkner (Gujarat)
50m rupees ($1.04 million): Mitch Starc (Bangalore)
42.5m rupees ($883,000): Nathan Coulter-Nile (Delhi)
40m rupees ($831,000): Steve Smith (Pune)
22m rupees ($457,000): Shaun Marsh (Punjab)
13m rupees ($270,000): Chris Lynn (Kolkata)
10m rupees ($209,000): Moises Henriques (Hyderabad)
5m rupees ($104,000): Brad Hogg (Kolkata)