IPL auction analysis - Part one
The IPL mini auction took place in Kochi on Friday. Ahead of the auction, 163 players had been retained by the franchises, meaning a maximum of 87 spots were up for grabs at the auction, with 30 of those being overseas. In total, franchises had 206.5cr to spend between them. A large amount of that was expected to be spent on ‘all-rounders’ such as Holder, Stokes, Curran and Green in the earlier sets and that proved to be the case, with three of those players selling for 15+ cr each:
Off the back of an incredible T20 WC it always felt likely that Curran would go for in excess of 15cr and possibly push 20cr. However, I was a little surprised to see just how popular Green and Stokes were. Sure, I was expecting 10–12cr each, possibly slightly higher but 33.75cr for the two of them combined, feels a little extreme. I guess that’s the nature of mini-auctions, though it does suggest slightly one dimensional planning from some of the franchises.
Most of the other higher priced players were also expected apart from the last two. To be honest, I don’t know a lot about Mukesh Kumar but he doesn’t seem to significantly stand out over any of the other domestic pace bowlers that went for base price or close to, it shows what can happen when two franchises have a clear interest in you. While Klaasen is a useful batter and a good player of spin, I thought he would be one that went for base price, or just above if he was picked.
Overall, 80 players were purchased on auction day, including 29 overseas players. Punjab Kings were the only team that didn’t utilise their full overseas player quota. Most teams have gone with squads of 25 this year - Punjab Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders & Mumbai Indians were the only teams that didn’t.
Chennai Super Kings
The expectation was that CSK would go all out for Sam Curran, while they tried, they were eventually outbid and he went to Punjab Kings for 18.5cr. As a result, CSK turned their attention to Ben Stokes and ended up purchasing him for 16.25cr, which was comfortably their biggest purchase of the day.
Purchases: Ben Stokes (16.25cr), Kyle Jamieson (1cr), Nishant Sindu (0.6cr), Ajinkya Rahane (0.5cr), Shaik Rasheed (0.2cr), Ajay Mandal (0.2cr) & Bhagath Varma (0.2cr).
While I’m not the biggest fan of Ben Stokes as a t20 player and he’s certainly overpriced, I do think CSK is probably the best franchise for him. It guarantees him an opening role and a captain, that’ll utilise him smartly with the ball.
The Kyle Jamieson pick was a bit more perplexing. I’d have preferred it if CSK had gone for a higher pace option or a more death overs orientated bowler with their final overseas pick. There were plenty of overseas options available so that can’t really be an excuse this time around.
CSK did secure two domestic SLA options, giving them alternatives if Jadeja suffers another injury and they wouldn’t have to alter their overseas balance this time around. Both of these SLA bowlers are good options - Mandal is having a strong season and Sindhu is already playing as an all-rounder in domestic cricket at 18 years old.
Shaik Rasheed was another pick that got a lot of hype on twitter. I don’t know a lot about him but a potential leg spinning all-rounder is a rare commodity and one that should be invested in.
Possible XI:
Subbed players - Mukesh Choudhary
- Mukesh feels like the main candidate to be subbed for CSK next season, when bowling or batting first. Most of the other players can offer either an extra batting or bowling option, while Gaikwad is an excellent fielder so probably wouldn’t be subbed.
This seems like the probable XI to me. A bit harsh on Devon Conway, who finished last season strongly but I think if you’re paying 16.25cr for Stokes, he has to open.
It’s definitely an interesting XI and one that looks well suited to playing at Chepauk, with plenty of spin and off-pace bowling options. The batting depth is also great and there’s LHB/RHB combinations throughout, though there could be one too many LHB’s in the top six, if Dhoni is going to continue batting lower down the order. This could lead to Pretorius being used as a floater, a role he probably has more value in, rather than playing as a ‘finisher.’
If they wanted to get all three of their overseas batters into the XI, there could be a potential route to doing so:
Personally, I can’t see it happening, as I’m not sure CSK fully trusts Hangargekar to be a starter yet and I don’t think they would’ve retained both of Rayudu & Dube unless they planned to start with both of them.
Summary
Honestly, I’m not a huge fan of the XI but it’s the style of XI that Dhoni & CSK have tended to go for in recent seasons, featuring a lot of bowling options and batting depth but possibly lacking specialists. They’ll back themselves to get squeeze more out of their XI than any other team would manage.
There are a few obvious issues with the squad. There’s a notable lack of high pace options, as well as limited death bowling options, in the absence of Dwayne Bravo. I’m assuming Pathirana will be seen as more of a project player currently and not expected to feature regularly this coming season.
The XI is probably a 9/10 for conditions in Chepauk but a lot worse than that for away matches. They might be more flexible with their XI on the road, which could help them a bit, though it’s difficult to see them becoming truly competitive away from home. Their chances of success will depend on their performances at Chepauk.
Overall rating - 6.5/10
Delhi Capitals
Delhi came into the auction with more spots already filled than any other time. Despite that, they already looked to have a fairly settled XI, so it was going to be interesting to see what they did at the auction.
Areas of weakness for them last season mostly centred around the team balance, often feeling either a bowler or batter light. Going with the three overseas batter approach isn’t something that’s regularly done either and probably isn’t the best use of resources, especially having two in the top 3. They were also consistently misusing their domestic batters, playing them out of position and not giving any of them a long run in the side, which led to a merry-go-round of sorts between a few players.
The spin attack wasn’t brilliant either - Axar only took six wickets and Kuldeep was quite expensive and lacked consistency. I think everyone probably expected them to stick with these two for at least one more season, though it would be interesting if they targeted any overseas back ups in this area?
Purchases: Mukesh Kumar (5.5cr), Rilee Rossouw (4.6cr), Manish Pandey (2.4cr), Phil Salt (2cr) & Ishant Sharma (0.5cr).
Best picks:
- Phil Salt - Gives them a good backup option to both Warner and Marsh, though he can’t necessarily replicate Warner’s skillset directly, it’ll be a better alternative opening option than they had last year. Salt is a big upgrade on Tim Seifert.
It’s difficult to know what the plan was for DC, it seems to mostly be based on vibes and going with the flow. Don’t get me wrong they’ve picked some good players - Salt & Rossouw, while I rate Manish Pandey higher than most. However, they’re all batters and the bigger issue for them was bowling, they were the fastest scoring side last season but also had the third worst bowling ER.
Possible XI:
Subbed players - Prithvi Shaw and Mukesh Kumar.
- Bat first - Seems likely that Shaw will be subbed out when DC bat first, once he’s out. Sakariya would be the most likely player to come in but Lalit Yadav could be an option if they wanted extra batting depth, plus a bowling option.
- Bowl first - DC will probably front-load Mukesh Kumar, who’ll then be subbed for one of the batters, or an Aman Khan/Lalit Yadav type player because DC only has five main bowling options.
It seems likely that it’ll be a similar XI to last season, with the impact player rule being the only thing that could bring change to the XI. This means that DC will likely have similar problems to last season, though with better availability, they might be able to field a more consistent batting order.
They still look over reliant on Warner and Pant to counter spin and I’m not sure the players they’ve bought will necessarily help with that, unless they consider playing Rossouw ahead of Rovman Powell but I think Powell is probably a better number 5–6.
Summary
Overall, I think DC could’ve done a lot more than they managed to achieve at the auction. They’ve got a lot of top order batting options but have neglected other roles, such as middle order/finisher options and spin depth.
It’s still a decent XI and that likely top 5/6 is one of the strongest in the competition, and if they use the impact player rule smartly, it could help their team balance, as well as making them a more versatile bowling attack. However, I’m not convinced they’ve maximised their chances of success for next season, they didn’t really do anything overwhelmingly positive at the auction.
Overall rating - 6/10
Gujarat Titans
Last season’s winners came into the auction in a decent position, with a healthy budget of just under 20cr, having traded Lockie Ferguson to KKR for 10cr between seasons. That was a great move in my opinion, keeping hold of Alzarri Joseph (2.4cr), who is probably a better t20 bowler currently and based on what we saw at the auction today, there’s no chance that Lockie would’ve gone for 10cr.
Despite winning last season, I’m not sure Gujarat were a particularly amazing side, rather they took advantage of teams around them struggling. The top order batting contributions weren’t great last season and they were often quite stagnant through the middle, so those would’ve been areas of focus for them heading into the auction.
Securing a domestic backup(s) keeper for Saha would’ve also been a priority, considering he’s now 38 and they aren’t likely to get many more seasons out of him.
Purchases: Shivam Mavi (6cr), Josh Little (4.4cr), Kane Williamson (2cr), KS Bharat (1.2cr), Odean Smith (0.5cr), Mohit Sharma (0.5cr) & Urvil Patel (0.2cr).
Best picks:
- Shivam Mavi - 6cr is a little steep but getting another quality domestic pace bowler into the squad was essential. Yash Dayal did well at times but they at least needed an alternative. Mavi has an excellent record across all formats and I’d back him to crack the IPL in the coming seasons. Low release point which could make him useful at the death.
- Josh Little - Another that might seem a little pricey but Little is having a breakthrough year and will be a great option in years to come. If/when they figure out a way to get Alzarri and Little in the same XI, it’ll make for a really nice bowling attack.
- Odean Smith - While he’s struggled quite often in his t20 career thus far, including last IPL, Odean is still a player with huge upside - can bowl 140+ and hit the ball miles. Definitely good value for 0.5cr.
GT’s first pick of the day was Kane Williamson, a move I definitely wasn’t expecting them to make. I thought they were locked in to target one of the overseas LHB’s that were available - Rossouw, Stokes or Pooran, with Rossouw looking like the best fit for their team in my opinion. Unless there’s a significant change in approach, I’m not a fan of the Kane Williamson pick at all, having watched him for New Zealand and in the IPL over the last 18–24 months. Yes, he offers security but it comes at a cost, with unbelievably slow starts and a general lack of intent. They also already had players such as Gill, Hardik and Miller who can provide anchor-like tendencies at times.
KS Bharat was a critical pick, in terms of getting another domestic keeper into the squad. Although, I’m not necessarily sure he’s best suited to opening, as a better player of spin, number 3–4 would probably be his best position.
Possible XI:
Subbed players - Mohammed Shami & Kane Williamson
- Bowl first - Shami could bowl four straight through and then be replaced by either Shivam Mavi/Yash Dayal or another batting option (Sai Sudharsan), depending on the situation.
- Bat first - Kane Williamson or Abhinav Manohar are probably the most likely players to be subbed, would be for Mavi/Dayal in most cases.
I’m not necessarily a fan of it but I’m expecting Williamson to be given a run in the side at first. This leaves four RHB’s in a row at the top of the order, which isn’t ideal, especially at Motera, where conditions are likely to help spinners, hence having three spin options in the XI.
It’s a similar style of XI to last season, one that will be quite conservative with the bat and more reliant on their performances with the ball to win them games and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. However, I think they’ve arguably gone too far in that direction with their batting. There were resources available at the auction to increase the upside of their batting line up, without losing much in terms of consistency. As it stands, with their current batting line up looks to have quite a low ceiling, compared to most other teams.
As much as I’d like to see Josh Little play, I don’t see much chance of that happening initially. The potential route into the team would be if they either dropped Williamson or if Alzarri Joseph performs poorly. Rashid Khan is undroppable and David Miller will probably get the fulls season, considering his performances last time out:
Summary
Overall, a lot of the work that Gujarat have done between seasons has been beneficial in my opinion. However, that Kane Williamson pick could be a big limiting factor, if he continues to play in a similar way to what he’s done in recent times. You can’t consistently soak up 20–30 deliveries, relying on acceleration later in the innings, when that acceleration often isn’t elite anyway.
I also think they probably could’ve released Rahul Tewatia and either bought him back cheaper, or looked for another option. He isn’t a consistent finisher lower down the order and his bowling wasn’t utilised much last season. He could be seen as additional security in the XI, in case Hardik isn’t fully fit to bowl.
It’s definitely a solid XI, with an excellent bowling unit. The impact player rule should help them as well, they were already very aggressive with their usage of Shami last season anyway, so not much will change there. If Alzarri continues to show the level he has recently, it’ll be a really well-rounded bowling attack.
In spite of all the bowling positives, I can’t see past that batting line up, it just looks uninspiring. I’d be surprised if they could compete for the title with that batting order, though I said that last year and they did, I could be misjudging them again.
Overall rating - 7.5/10
Kolkata Knight Riders
Despite their obvious flaws last season, such as general issues against high pace and wrist spin throughout the entire batting line up, I don’t think KKR were too far off being a decent side. Their final position of 7th suggests they were fairly ordinary and while it’s true that they ran out of steam later in the tournament, they actually started the season quite well.
Several players massively underperformed for KKR last season, including Sam Billings, Venkatesh Iyer, Pat Cummins (with the ball), Shivam Mavi and Varun Chakravarthy. Considering the struggles of almost half of their XI last season, it was remarkable that they managed to win six games and finished the season with a positive net run rate.
The major positives last season for KKR were Umesh Yadav’ performances with the new ball and Rinku Singh doing well in a tough middle order role, while Tim Southee also had a decent overall season.
Between seasons, KKR did some interesting things. They picked up three players; Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Lockie Ferguson and Shardul Thakur for 0.5, 10 & 10.25cr respectively. Getting Gurbaz was a good trade, although there probably wouldn’t have been massive demand for him at the auction, they avoided any potential bidding war and gave them a bit of comfort coming into the auction, knowing they already had a keeping option secure. The other two picks were less convincing. There’s no way Lockie Ferguson would’ve gone for 10cr, based on the relative lack of demand for overseas bowlers at the auction and while Thakur probably would’ve received a healthy fee, I’m not a huge fan of him as a t20 player.
All of this, combined with their retentions, meant that KKR came into the auction with the smallest budget (7.05cr). They didn’t have much to play with but could they work any magic?
Purchases: Shakib Al Hasan (1.5cr), David Wiese (1cr), Narayan Jagadeesan (0.9cr), Vaibhav Arora (0.6cr), Litton Das (0.5cr), Mandeep Singh (0.5cr), Suyash Sharma (0.2cr) & Kulwant Khejroliya (0.2cr).
Best picks:
- David Wiese - Gives them a decent backup option to Russell, who hasn’t looked brilliant of late and has also had a few injury issues in the past. Wiese isn’t as destructive as Russel but does have a death overs SR of almost 200 since the start of 2021.
- Vaibhav Arora - A good new ball bowler, giving them an Umesh Yadav alternative or the possibility to play both of them with the impact player rule.
- Mandeep Singh - Another decent backup option, this time for Rinku Singh. Mandeep has struck at over 145 across the last four SMA seasons, batting in various middle order positions.
Personally, I quite liked what KKR did at the auction, considering their limited budget and an already settled XI, I’m not sure they could’ve done much more. An argument could be made about going for Phil Salt but with a much higher base price, it might’ve made it difficult to secure decent back ups in other areas.
In truth, KKR made things very difficult for themselves with the amount of players they retained and then adding three more to that between seasons. They would’ve needed to pull a rabbit out of the hat in order to solve their issue from last season with the budget they had available to them.
Possible XI:
Subbed players - Umesh Yadav
- Bowl first - Umesh Yadav definitely feels like the most likely player to be subbed when they bowl first, possibly for Anukul Roy or Mandeep Singh.
- Bat first - It’s tough to say who could be subbed after they’ve batted, most of their players offer some sort of bowling option. The two that don’t really do that are Shreyas Iyer (captain) and Rinku Singh, who is an excellent fielder. It could be a tricky decision when deciding who to sub out. You’d think Vaibhav Arora would be the bowler that’s regularly subbed in, giving them an additional new ball option.
It’s the XI we expected after the retentions were announced, it was always going to be difficult to improve on that with the funds they had available. There looks to be similar issues to last season, perhaps slightly less vulnerable against spin, with the addition of Gurbaz and the form of Shreyas Iyer. Facing high pace will still be a major achilles heel for KKR this season.
Their powerplay options are a bit limited if they bowl first, when they’ll be very reliant on Umesh Yadav. This might be less of an issue in the second innings, as they could potentially bring in Vaibhav Arora for a batter at the halfway stage.
Summary
Despite making some good moves today, I don’t think KKR are a great side at all. They needed to be more ruthless with their retentions, instead of retaining a few underperforming players, some of whom are high earners.
There’s definitely more ability in the side than they showed at times last season. However, the consistent weaknesses for most of the players throughout the batting line up, probably means that KKR will be a side that performs at a level that’s less than a sum of its parts again.
You can’t completely write them off but I expect them to be a similar volatile XI to what we saw last season.
Overall rating - 6/10
Lucknow Super Giants
Lucknow came into the auction with a sizeable budget of 23.35cr, that could only be bettered by Punjab Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad. They did only have 15 players, leaving them with spots to fill, however, the added boost of having Mark Wood available this season (hopefully), meant they probably only needed one starting XI player.
Many expected that player to be Ben Stokes, given that he’s the type of t20 player that Andy Flower loves. After a bidding war with CSK, Lucknow eventually blinked first and missed out on their main man. Thus, ending up with Nicholas Pooran, a better batter for the role they need but they lose out on the additional bowling option.
Having Mark Wood available would obviously be a huge boost, after he missed all of last season through injury. He can be beneficial through sheer ball speed alone but looks like he’s becoming a more versatile white ball bowler than he was in the past. Lucknow generally felt a pace bowler light at times last season. Chameera was okay, without being spectacular, while Holder and Tye were underwhelming.
Ravi Bishnoi also struggled at times last season and while they were always going to retain him, recruiting a secondary wrist spin option at this auction would be beneficial and it’s something they didn’t have last season.
Purchases: Nicholas Pooran (16cr), Daniel Sams (0.75cr), Romario Shepherd (0.5cr), Naveen-Ul-Haq (0.5cr), Jaydev Unadakt (0.5cr), Yash Thakur (0.45cr), Prerak Mankad (0.2cr), Swapnil Singh (0.2cr) & Yudhvir Charak (0.2cr).
Best purchases:
- Romario Shepherd - If you go from going for almost 8cr at the previous auction, with multiple franchises interested in you to base price (0.5cr) at the next auction, you’ve either been massively overrated originally or the team that’s just bought you has got a steal. I’d side with the latter, although I do think his ‘all-rounder’ abilities were overrated, he’s still a player with huge potential, who hits a six better than every ten deliveries and can be a valuable bowler at the death.
- Naveen-Ul-Haq - Another astute pick up at base price. Can bowl in both key phases and has excellent variations, can also fire in a yorker. A deserved opportunity for Naveen in my opinion.
- Yash Thakur - Regular wicket taker in domestic cricket and has a phenomenal SMA record, taking 55 wickets (ER 6.7/SR 12.9) in his career. Bowls well at the death and could be a nice option with the impact player rule.
- Prerak Mankad - Was surprised when Punjab Kings decided to release him and also surprised when LSG managed to get him at base price. Of the non-regular IPL players, he’s one of the better middle/lower order options and can also give you a couple of overs with the ball.
I also don’t mind the Nicholas Pooran pick. Is it true that it’s a ridiculously high fee? Yes, but most importantly, he improves the starting XI and that’s the main thing to worry about at a mini-auction. Sometimes you have to take your medicine when it comes to the price tag.
Possible XI:
Subbed players - No obvious options
- Bowl first - they could front-load one of the pace bowlers and sub them out for either Prerak Mankad or Krishnappa Gowtham, to give them extra batting depth (mostly Mankad), while keeping another bowling option. Or it could be a straight swap for a batter such as Manan Vohra.
- Bat first - Lack of batting depth could be an issue, meaning they might have to go for a batter/batter swap at times.
As was the case after the retention phase, my initial thoughts are that Lucknow are in a very good position. Mark Wood gives the bowling line up an added dimension and if Mohsin Khan can maintain a similar level to what he showed last season, that’s a very impressive pace trio.
The spin attack won’t bamboozle opposition batting line ups but I’d expect Bishnoi will perform at a better level than he did last season. They’d also have the option to bring in an extra spinner if bowling 2nd with the impact player rule and Gowtham or Mishra could be options for that role.
Batting depth looks like it could be the biggest issue in the XI, with Badoni and Krunal Pandya at 6 & 7 and not much to come after that. The reliability of KL Rahul somewhat counters that, as a player that’s averaged 50+ in each of the last five IPL seasons - say what you want about him but that’s incredible consistency, that can be built upon. Krunal could also be promoted to artificially lengthen the batting order.
There could also be a potential issue against high pace through the middle, with Hooda, Pooran and Stoinis all carded to come one after another, none of whom have convincing numbers against 140+ bowling. It should be less of an issue if one of the openers bats through.
Despite listing a few flaws, I do really like the Lucknow first choice XI and think they could very competitive this season.
Summary
Lucknow were already a decent team last season, finishing 3rd (league) in their maiden IPL season. With Mark Wood and Nicholas Pooran added to that team, who’ll be upgrades on the options they had previously, things are looking pretty good for Lucknow.
The balance of the XI isn’t ideal but the impact player rule should help them out with that. Having a strong bowling unit usually bodes well for success in t20 tournaments, will that be the case here?
Overall rating - 8/10
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