Who were the winners and losers of the IPL auction? Part 2/2

After last year’s mega auction, the IPL 2022 auction had much to live up to and it delivered. The 3 most expensive players sold at an IPL auction ever and over £16,700,000 was spent, this auction was not short of a surprise. Let’s delve into the winners and losers of the auction this year.

Mumbai Indians

Mumbai has had a well-built side for years but in the last two seasons, they have not made the playoffs and in 2022 the wheels came off as the side finished last. Everything went wrong last year, from the top order to the extremely thin pace bowling attack. Pollard had lost his form and the middle order was lacking experience. Green solves all of these issues with his incredible versatility. One of the biggest problems has been his recent T20I form. His last 4 innings in the format consisted of 14, 1, 1, 3. However, before that on a tour in India, he averaged 39.33 across 3 innings, striking the ball at 214.55. One of the biggest criticisms of Mumbai last year was their lack of Indian pace bowlers. They released Unadkat in this off-season and Bumrah has been injured for months yet they did not go for an experienced Indian pace bowler to play. Instead, they brought in Jason Behrendorff and Jhye Richardson. 2 high-quality white ball pacers but they will struggle to play with Green, Brevis, David, and Archer most likely taking the overseas spots. Akash Ambani, Mumbai Indian’s owner Mukesh Ambani’s son, said after the auction ‘ We are aiming [for] younger players for longevity’. This was shown as 4 of their last 5 pick-ups were 25 or under. Most notably, Duan Jansen, Marco Jansen’s twin brother. Finally, Mumbai picked up the 5th highest IPL wicket-taker ever, Piyush Chawla who will hope to get one last run at a league he dominated for so long.

My XI

1. Rohit Sharma ( C )
2. Ishan Kishan (WK)
3. Cameron Green
4. Suryakumar Yadav
5. Tilak Varma
6. Dewald Brevis
7. Ramandeep Singh
8. Jofra Archer
9. Jasprit Bumrah
10. Jhye Richardson
11. Hrithik Shokeen

Despite Mumbai’s incredible team depth, most of their strength comes in their batting, especially in the overseas department. They lack a quality spinner, Indian or overseas. This means Shokeen will most likely have to start as the sole spinner. Ideally, they would play 2 spinners meaning Chawla would play alongside the young Shokeen, however, this would shorten their batting lineup. I have taken Brevis over David but no complaints if David does get to start. Rating: 6.5/10.

Punjab Kings

Punjab had a huge auction last year, spending on Bairstow, Livingstone, Rabada, Dhawan, and Rajapaksa. They have kept this core together and added some huge names who dominated T20I cricket in 2022. They picked up arguably the 2 best all-rounders of the year who were included in Wisden’s 2022 T20I team of the year and the ICC’s 2022 T20I World Cup Team of the Tournament. Of course, it is Sikander Raza and Sam Curran. Punjab made Curran the most expensive IPL player at around £1.85 million. Curran is returning to the team he debuted in the IPL for, only 4 years ago. He did not have the best time in red and found himself playing for the other Kings of the IPL, CSK. He ended up pulling out before the auction in 2022, citing ‘rehabilitation’ as the reason for his absence. Hopefully, Curran can live up to his price tag and break the curse of the most expensive player flopping. Raza is the 4th Zimbabwean to play in the IPL but is the first who has a real chance to make an impact. In 2022, he struck the ball at 150.92 in T20Is, and his bowling has been likened to Narine. Surely with both of these big buys and the contracts remaining from last year, Punjab’s finances were tied which is why they went for 4 domestic Indian players at their base price to fill out the roster. However, they still came away with the biggest remaining purse and the smallest squad. 2 names they could have picked up were Sheldon Jackson and Priyam Garg who has been impressive in recent years. They also had a spare overseas spot left which could have been given to the likes of Travis Head or Dasun Shanaka who thoroughly deserve a spot on an IPL team.

My XI

1. Jonny Bairstow
2. Shikhar Dhawan ( C )
3. Jitesh Sharma (WK)
4. Liam Livingstone
5. Shahrukh Khan
6. Sam Curran
7. Rishi Dhawan
8. Kagiso Rabada
9. Harpreet Brar
10. Rahul Chahar
11. Arshdeep Singh

It would be great to see Raza play, but kicking Livingstone, Bairstow, Rabada, or Curran out of the team is almost impossible. Not the worst problem for the management to have. For me, Rishi Dhawan starts over Raj Bawa, but I would like to see Bawa feature if things go wrong for Rishi. If it weren't for leaving so much money in the bank with so many good options unsold, Punjab would have had a 10/10 rating. Rating: 9.5/10.

Rajasthan Royals

The Royals came close to glory for the first time in 14 years in 2022 but fell short at the last hurdle to the Titans. In the past few years, the Royals have relied heavily on overseas players. The likes of Ben Stokes, Steve Smith, Jos Buttler, David Miller, Chris Morris, Shimron Hetmyer, Trent Boult, and more… They have often spent big in the overseas department but have lacked the firepower on the Indian side of the squad. In last year’s mega auction, they changed that, signing Chahal, Ashwin, Krishna, Saini, Parag, and Sen. After last year’s success, the Royals seem to have reverted to their belief in overseas signings, the biggest of these being Joe Root. Root has been in and out of the auction in the past few years but has been constantly ignored, however, it was inevitable that with his current form and his improved ability against spin, he would find himself in the IPL. However, he wasn’t their most expensive buy, that title went to Jason Holder. Holder has been on fire with the ball in the past 3 seasons, taking 44 wickets in 27 games. However, his explosive hitting hasn’t been there consistently enough. This has been a common theme for Holder in the maroon of the West Indies as well, as he hasn't been able to click with the bat. He may slot in the lower order, tasked with bowling at the death. Adam Zampa has played 3 seasons out of the past 7 but he was vital in RCB’s final run as he took 46.15% of the team’s wickets in just 5 matches. Donovan Ferreira has impressed in his short T20 career, scoring 634 runs in 24 innings but above all is his impressive strike rate of 155.77. The Royals have a strong Indian spin attack in Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravi Ashwin but they have added one of the steals of the tournament, Murugan Ashwin at base price. They added K.M. Asif, Abdul P A, Akash Vashisht, and Kunal Rathore.

My XI

1. Jos Buttler
2. Yashavi Jaiswal
3. Devdutt Padikkal
4. Sanju Samson ( C ) (WK)
5. Shimron Hetmyer
6. Riyan Parag
7. Jason Holder
8. Ravichandran Ashwin
9. Trent Boult
10. Prasidh Krishna
11. Yuzvendra Chahal

Only one change from their XI in the 2022 final, Holder in for Obed McCoy. Root has not struck the ball above 130 in the past 3 years in T20I’s so I do not think he could play over Hetmyer or Holder who have both got IPL experience. Kuldeep Sen and Navdeep Saini will be breathing down Krishna’s neck but for now, his place in the team is safe. Rating: 9/10.

Royal Challengers Bangalore

RCB had a quiet auction despite constant disappointment over the past few years. With Kohli and Siraj running into excellent form, RCB may not have wanted to mix up the team too much. The only big-name signings were the English duo of Will Jacks and Reece Topley. Will Jacks has become a sensation in the white ball world as teams are scrambling to get him in leagues everywhere. He first exploded onto the scene when he hit a 25-ball 100 vs Lancashire in a warm-up T10 game. He has played 97 T20 innings in his career, averaging 29.55 and striking the ball at 155.62. Reece Topley had an excellent 2022 taking 30 wickets for England in white-ball cricket. At 6′ 7″, Topley provides extra bounce as well as swing with the new ball. He proved to be a thorn in the side of the Indian batting attack, taking 13 wickets when they toured England in the summer. The final signing of note is Avinash Singh who has reached paces of 90mph+ with a bowling style similar to India’s other speedster, Umran Malik. Finally, RCB closed the auction out with the signings of Rajan Kumar, Sonu Yadav, Himanshu Sharma, and Manoj Bhandage.

My XI

1. Faf du Plessis ( C )
2. Anuj Rawat
3. Virat Kohli
4. Rajat Patidar
5. Glenn Maxwell
6. Dinesh Karthik (WK)
7. Wanindu Hasaranga
8. Shahbaz Ahmed
9. Harshal Patel
10. Mohammed Siraj
11. Josh Hazelwood

An almost identical lineup to the one we saw last year, Jacks is going to have to wait to make his debut. All 4 of the overseas players in the XI had incredible 2022 seasons. Mahipal Lomror and Suyash Prabhudessai will try to find a way into the squad past Patidar and Rawat. Rating: 8.5/10.

Sunrisers Hyderabad

After lackluster performances since their success in 2016 and the David Warner era, Hyderabad cleared house getting rid of big names like Kane Williamson, Nicholas Pooran, Romario Shepherd, Sean Abbott, Priyam Garg, and many more. It was clear from the outset that one of Cam Green, Sam Curran, Ben Stokes, or Harry Brook was ending up as a part of the Orange Army. They joined the bidding for Stokes but were edged out by CSK so they set their sight on the English superstar, Harry Brook, and came away with their target, costing them over £1.3 million. Brook is already one of the biggest names in T20 cricket as he has racked up 2432 runs in just 93 innings. Brook is set to be the franchise player for Hyderabad for years to come. Klaasen was the next overseas buy who had an excellent 2022, averaging 29.75 with a strike rate of 156.58. He hasn't had a great time in the IPL before but hopefully, his current form can carry on into 2023. Adil Rashid has been hailed as one of the best white ball players over the past few years but in his lone IPL game, he went for 35 runs in 3 overs. After 3 huge spells in crunch matches for England in the 2022 T20I World Cup, including the Semi-Final and the Final, Rashid is back to his best and hopefully can redeem himself with the Sunrisers. Their final overseas spot was given to up-and-coming, West Indian all-rounder, Akeal Hosein. The West Indies are currently going through one of their worst spells as a white ball side, failing to qualify for the Super 12s for the first time. The 2-time champions finished behind Scotland, Ireland, and Zimbabwe in their qualification group. However, despite all the struggles, Akeal Hosein has been one of the sparse amounts of silver linings. He is averaging 22 with the bat in T20Is as well as 25 wickets. The biggest Indian signing of the auction was Mayank Agarwal who has found a new home with the Sunrisers. 2020 and 2021 were excellent seasons for Agarwal but without KL Rahul at the other end, he struggled in 2022, scoring only 196 runs with one 50. He will also be a candidate for captaincy after Williamson’s departure. Vivrant Sharma is an allrounder who was bought for 10x his base price. The 23-year-old who is currently playing for Jammu & Kashmir is quite a strange addition to the squad. His career T20 strike rate is 128.18 and he has only taken 6 wickets. It will be interesting to see how or even IF he is used for Hyderabad this year. Mayank Dagar played in the U19 World Cup team that came runners-up to the West Indies. The left-arm off-spinner managed to take more wickets than Washington Sundar, Shivam Mavi, Khaleel Ahmed, Rashid Khan, and Sam Curran. He has since been a star for Himachal Pradesh taking 44 T20 wickets with an economy of just 6.17. The last big name was Mayank Markande, one of the IPL’s biggest What Ifs? in recent memory. In 2018, he took 15 wickets, more than Jadeja, Shakib, and Bravo, but the following year he got ill early on in the season and Rahul Chahar snapped up his place and didn't look back. Since then, Markande has bounced around teams, struggling to string games together. Will Hyderabad provide him with a platform to make his comeback? They closed their auction out with Anmolpreet Singh, Samarth Vyas, Upendra Singh Yadav, Sanvir Singh, and Nitish Kumar Reddy.

My XI

1. Rahul Tripathi
2. Mayank Agarwal
3. Aiden Markram
4. Harry Brook
5. Glenn Phillips (WK)
6. Abhishek Sharma
7. Washington Sundar
8. Marco Jansen
9. Bhuveneshwar Kumar ( C )
10. Umran Malik
11. T Natarajan

Jansen and Rashid, Phillips and Klaasen, Natarajan and Tyagi. There are going to be many battles to play in this stacked squad but for me, this XI provides the perfect balance. The top 6/7 are all interchangeable which is credited to Hyderabad’s auction team. Again, this is a great problem for the coaches to have, but it will also create a high-intensity environment around the camp as everyone knows the next game could be their last if they underperform. Rating: 10/10.

Part 1.