Kent skipper Rob Key will be with the county at the start of the season after being snubbed in Tuesday's Indian Premier League auction.

Key would have missed the start of the county season had he been bought by one of the eight franchises.

But the Kent captain, who was on offer at $100,000, was among the 56 unsuccessful players in the list of 67 available players.

Key was one of eight Englishmen included on the list for the auction in Mumbai ahead of the tournament, which gets underway in March.

Had he been selected, he could have missed Kent’s LV County Championship opener against Nottinghamshire on April 15, the home clash against Yorkshire in the same competition on April 21 and the ECB 40 League match against Warwickshire on April 25.