IPL-Auction-2023

The clarion call for the Indian Premier League 2023 has been given with the recently concluded mini Auction in Kochi on 23rd December. Auctions have been a significant part of the buzz created by IPL. Although the IPL auction this time was a smaller one with 405 players going under the hammer for around 88 vacant spots, there were still many big names up for the grab including Ben Stokes, Sam Curran, Cameron Green, etc. Without a surprise, all these marquee players went for quite a few bucks so much so that the auction saw the three most expensive all-time buys of the tournament within a span of half an hour. 

There was a mega IPL auction last year and most of the teams retained many of their core players. So, this time it was all about filling a few gaps and strengthening the reserves. There were also a few surprising picks at the auction table, the most notable one being that of the English man Harry Brook getting sold to the Sunrisers Hyderabad for INR 13.5 crores. Let us see in detail the hits and misses of the IPL auction for all the teams.

Teams gearing up after IPL Auction for IPL 2023

Chennai Super Kings

One of the most successful and popular teams of the tournament led by the former Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni picked up the English all-rounder Ben Stokes for a whopping INR 16.25 crores, who what many people are saying can be the successor of MS Dhoni as the captain of the side. CSK already has a long list of all-rounders such as Moeen Ali, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Pretorius and now with Stokes also in their kitty, it will definitely give them a boost as Stokes recently led his national side to the T20 World Cup trophy and all-rounders are always great assets in the shortest format. To improve upon their weak bowling, CSK placed a bet on the Kiwi pacer Kyle Jamieson, who is currently recovering from a string of injuries. Overall, despite some concerns around death bowling, CSK does look like a formidable side with strong all-round options.

Mumbai Indians

Rohit Sharma led franchise picked up one of the most exciting players in the auction, Cameron Green to add to their armoury of power hitters which include Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Dewald Brevis, Tristan Stubbs and Tim David. With Green, they do look to be the most explosive batting side of the tournament. The bowling department still looks a tad underwhelming for them despite having two star T20 bowlers – Jasprit Bumrah and Jofra Archer, who also continue to remain unavailable for their national teams due to injury concerns. They did however pick up the Aussie pacer Jhye Richardson and had traded in Jason Behrendorff earlier. 

Royal Challengers Bengaluru

RCB didn’t have a lot in their purse going into the auction and mostly, they were looking for good backup options. One of the best buys of the auction came from RCB when they bought the English T20 specialist bowler Reece Topley for a mere INR 1.90 crores. They also picked up the English all-rounder Will Jacks and raised many brows when they got the fast bowler Avinash Singh from Jammu & Kashmir who has not played any domestic cricket before. It is believed that the talent scouts of RCB spotted Avinash in their trials and he has a lot in common with another pacer from his state, Umran Malik in terms of his bowling action and speed. 

Sunrisers Hyderabad

They had a very good auction and look one of the most balanced sides on paper. SRH had released their captain Kane Williamson and star player Nicholas Pooran ahead of the auction. To boost their batting, they picked up Mayank Agarwal, Hienrich Klassen and Harrry Brook who was one of the most expensive buys under the hammer. They also picked up spinners Adil Rashid and Akeal Hossain to support their excellent pace attack. Overall, SRH may not be having any high octane individual player but as a unit, they definitely feature among the few most complete teams after the auction. 

Kolkata Knight Riders

KKR did not have a lot of money going into the auction. They had traded in Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Shardul Thakur and Lockie Ferguson in the trading window earlier. KKR did not show a lot of engagement in the auction early on and only later, they bought players like Shakib Al Hasan, Litton Das and Namibian David Wiese alongside a few domestic players. Shreyas Iyer led team had an underwhelming auction and they look quite fragile both in the batting and bowling departments still having four vacant spots in their squad. 

Punjab Kings

Punjab Kings had the second largest purse after Snurisers.which they spent rigorously on the most expensive player bought in the history of IPL, Sam Curran. But after that, Kings surprisingly did not show a lot of enthusiasm. They did get Zimbabwean Sikandar Raza at his base price of mere INR 50 lakhs in what can definitely be termed as a steal. Having not spent over INR 12 crores, Punjab Kings continue to face unanswered questions in their middle and lower order as well as backup bowling options. 

Lucknow Supergiants

LSG already had a very balanced side with a few gaps in their lower middle order where they needed power hitters. For this role, they spent over INR 16 crores on the West Indian T20I captain Nicholas Pooran. They also purchased Daniel Sams and Romario Shepherd as hitter bowling all-round options while further boosting their bowling reserves with the Afghan speedster Naveen-Ul-Haq and experienced Indian campaigners Jaydev Unadkat and Amit Mishra. To sum it up, Lucknow has put together a great T20 side with almost all the bases covered. 

Rajasthan Royals

Royals also had an underwhelming auction with just over 13 crores in their kitty. Initially, they went all in for Harry Brook in the bidding war with Sunrisers to strengthen their weak middle order batting. They were able to buy the West Indian pacer Jason Holder in a fierce bid against the Chennai Super Kings. Later on, they also picked up the former English captain Joe Root and Aussie leg spinner Adam Zampa. But the Royals still seem to be struggling in the all-rounders’ department which is crucial in the T20s. 

Gujarat Titans

Last year’s victors Titans picked up the Kiwi skipper Kane Williamson at his base price of INR 2 crores. Further, they got all-rounder Odean Smith, lone Irish buy in the auction left-arm pacer Joshua Little and a couple of Indian bowling options in Shivam Mavi and Mohit Sharma. Defending Champions still appear underdogs on paper but they do have T20 match winners with all bases covered in the squad. Overall, they fared decently in the auction. 

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