CHENNAI: High demand, limited supply. Addition of two new teams. No right to match cards. An already shrunk auction purse for 40 percent of the franchises.
The IPL 2022 auction was always going to be a tough code to crack for franchises this time. And it showed at the end of Day 1 of the auction, the franchises still have plenty of work to do on Sunday in terms of finding a squad balance.
With only a limited budget available, it is safe to say not all the franchises will have a good sleep on Saturday night.
The eight old teams tried their best to retain their originality by bidding for players they released into the auction pool but with a limited purse meant, they had to be judicious in picking and choosing. That said, there was no stopping them from splurging cash on where it was absolutely necessary.
In an auction pool where the demand is higher than the supply, the wicketkeepers, all-rounders, fast-bowlers and Indian middle-order batters – who form the core of the team – were the most sought after. For a tournament that is played at home, the highest team spent on a spinner was Yuzvendra Chahal, who was picked by Rajasthan Royals for Rs 6.5 crore. In fact, the first set of capped spinners, as many as five, had no takers.
In the marquee set that began the proceedings, only Shreyas Iyer went beyond the Rs 10-crore mark and eventually settling in Kolkata Knight Riders for Rs 12.25 crore. Others in the category R Ashwin, Shikhar Dhawan, Mohammed Shami, Pat Cummins, Quinton de Kock, Kagiso Rabada, Trent Boult, Faf du Plessis and David Warner all found a home, but with all-rounders, wicket keepers and pacers to follow, there was hesitation from the franchises to spend beyond a point.
For instance, Chennai Super Kings waited till the ninth player – De Kock – to enter the bid, while Sunrisers Hyderabad didn't even join the race for any. In a format which is titled in favour of batters, Rajasthan Royals purchase of Shimron Hetmyer for Rs 8.5 crore was the highest in the category followed by the Rs 7.75 crore they spent for Devdutt Padikkal.
But, all of it changed when the key sets began with all-rounders. At 38, Dwayne Bravo isn't getting any younger, but for Chennai to snap him back, they had to tussle it with Hyderabad and Delhi Capitals showed how much they are valued.
With Bravo itself costing Rs 4.4 crore, the likes of Nitish Rana, Jason Holder, Harshal Patel, Wanindu Hasaranga, Washington Sundar, Krunal Pandya, Mitchell Marsh were tossed between each table before finding an eventual home, several times more than their base price.
With four wicketkeepers already retained, the remaining six went big on wicket-keepers with Ishan Kishan ending up as the highest buy of the day at Rs 15.25 crore. Even Nicholas Pooran, who has been hit or miss in the IPL so far, went for Rs 10.75 crore to Hyderabad.
Jonny Bairstow, Dinesh Karthik went to Punjab Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore, respectively and in the end, Gujarat Titans are yet to get a keeper, while Kolkata Knight Riders only have Sheldon Jackson to don the big gloves.
If all-rounders and wicket-keepers showed the scarcity, the fast bowlers were the ones who struck the jackpot. In the first list, only Umesh Yadav went unsold. T Natarajan and Prasidh Krishna got interest from only two teams, but the rest which include Deepak Chahar, Lockie Ferguson, Josh Hazlewood, Mark Wood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shardul Thakur all attracted interest from at least three or more teams. Nine of them alone went for Rs 70.2 crore.
“Fast bowlers were always going to be difficult to get,” Delhi Capitals co-owner Parth Jindal said.
“They bowl in the powerplay and at the death, so you need the good ones. They are the difference between entering the play-offs and ending up in the group stages. There is always a value for pacers and which is why all of them went for huge sum” he added.
That franchises were brave enough to invest in some also said a story, especially the overseas quicks, who may not be available for the entire season. Cummins, Hazlewood, Rabada, Mark Wood and to an extent Trent Boult have international commitments lined-up this season, yet they found takers.
With another full-fledged auction highly unlikely, franchises also came in with an eye on the future. Uncapped Indian players striking big at the auctions has been a norm off-late and that continued in Bengaluru.
Avesh Khan, Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Abhinav Manohar, South Africa's Dewald Brevis, Riyan Parag, Rahul Tripathi, Abhishek Sharma, Sai Kishore, Harpreet Brar, M Ashwin, Kartik Tyagi, Anuj Rawat, KS Bharat, Shabhaz Ahmed, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi all touched crore mark.