Sam curran sets record in Kochi | IPL mini auction Roundup:
The most awaited Indian Premier League (IPL) auction for the year 2023 came to an end after a thrilling show in Kochi today. To fill the 87 available slots, 405 players were shortlisted from a total of 900+ players – international, capped and uncapped – and were brought under the hammer. In the process of filling these slots, many players, even big names, went home unsold. While some soared away with huge contracts.
As it was a mini-auction, more players were allowed to be retained and so the core group of most teams was already settled. Some teams, like Punjab Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad, released a major part of their team from the previous edition and were on the lookout for new faces to be roped in. Let’s have a look at how the teams look now:
ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE:
Royal Challengers Bangalore, led by the Proteas player Faf du Plessis, entered the auction with a purse of INR 8.75 crores and 7 slots to be filled. These 7 slots were to be filled with 5 Indians and only 2 overseas players. RCB bought England’s Will Jacks for a whopping INR 3.2 crore, making him their highest buy. Apart from Jacks, they spent their purse on Reece Topley (INR 1.9 crore), Himanshu Sharma (INR 20 lakh), Manoj Bhandage (INR 20 lakh), Rajan Kumar (INR 70 lakh), Avinash Singh (INR 60 lakh) and Sonu Yadav (INR 20 lakh).
The Bangalore-based team has a purse of INR 1.75 crore remaining and following is how their team looks like now:
Faf du Plessis (c), Virat Kohli, Suyash Prabhudessai, Rajat Patidar, Dinesh Karthik, Anuj Rawat, Finn Allen, Glenn Maxwell, Wanindu Hasaranga, Shahbaz Ahmed, Harshal Patel, David Willey, Karn Sharma, Mahipal Lomror, Mohammed Siraj, Josh Hazlewood, Siddarth Kaul, Akash Deep, Reece Topley, Himanshu Sharma, Will Jacks, Manoj Bhandage, Rajan Kumar, Avinash Singh, Sonu Yadav.
KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS:
Kolkata Knight Riders came in the auctions with the lowest purse which was INR 7.05 crore only. What added more to their worries was the 11 unfilled spots in the team. However, by the end of the auction the franchise not only had a team of 22 players battle ready but also some money remaining in their purse. The team roped in the star all-rounder from Bangladesh, Shakib Al Hasan for INR 1.5 crore as their highest buy. Having limited amount of money in their purse, the franchise decided to leave 3 slots unfilled which is allowed according to IPL rules as franchises can include 18 to 25 players to their teams.
The squad of Knightriders looks like:
Shreyas Iyer (c), Nitish Rana, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Lockie Ferguson, Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Anukul Roy, Rinku Singh, N. Jagadeesan, Vaibhav Arora, Suyash Sharma, David Wiese, Kulwant Khejroliya, Litton Das, Mandeep Singh, Shakib Al Hasan.
PUNJAB KINGS:
Punjab Kings entered the auction with the strategy to rope in 9 players including 3 foreign players and 6 Indian. With a thumping INR 32.20 crore in their purse, the Kings bought the most expensive player in the IPL history. The franchise got English all-rounder Sam Curran for INR 18.5 crore surpassing Chris Morris who was sold for INR 16.25 crore in 2021. Another famed all-rounder was bought by the Dhawan-led team which is Sikander Raza, though only INR 50 lakh was paid for him. The remaining buying of the franchise includes Harpreet Bhatia (INR 40 lakh), Vidwath Kaverappa (INR 20 lakh) and Mohit Rathee (INR 20 lakh). The team rounded up the auction with INR 12.20 crores still in their pocket and 3 unfilled slots. This leaves their team as:
Shikhar Dhawan (c), Shahrukh Khan, Jonny Bairstow, Prabhsimran Singh, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Jitesh Sharma, Raj Bawa, Rishi Dhawan, Liam Livingstone, Atharva Taide, Arshdeep Singh, Baltej Singh, Nathan Ellis, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, Harpreet Brar, Sam Curran, Sikandar Raza, Harpreet Bhatia, Shivam Singh, Vidwath Kaverappa and Mohit Rathee.
CHENNAI SUPER KINGS:
MS Dhoni-led team, Chennai Super Kings had INR 20.45 crore in their purse when they woke up this morning. To fill their 7 remaining slots, the franchise gave up a huge amount of that and also ended up making one of the highest buys of the day. The Chennai-based franchise paid a mammoth INR 16.25 crores for the English all-rounder Ben Stokes, who became the 3rd most expensive player in the history of IPL. Other players, who the franchise won in the auction are
Ajinkya Rahane (INR 50 lakh), Shaik Rasheed (INR 20 lakh), Nishant Sindhu (INR 60 lakh), Kyle Jamieson (INR 1 crore), Ajay Mandal (INR 20 lakh), Bhagath Varma (INR 20 lakh).
The 25-man squad of CSK now looks like:
MS Dhoni (c), Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ambati Rayudu, Subhranshu Senapati, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Dwaine Pretorius, Mitchell Santner, Ravindra Jadeja, Tushar Deshpande, Mukesh Chowdhary, Matheesha Pathirana, Simarjeet Singh, Deepak Chahar, Prashant Solanki, Maheesh Theekshana, Ajinkya Rahane, Ben Stokes, Shaik Rasheed, Nishant Sindhu, Kyle Jamieson, Ajay Mandal, Bhagath Varma.
As of now, the franchise has only INR 1.5 crore in their bank.
DELHI CAPITALS:
Led by the Wicket-keeper batter Rishabh Pant, Delhi Capitals retained 19 players from their squad in the last season. Having said that, the franchise had 5 empty slots out of which 2 were to be occupied by overseas players. The team bought the uncapped pacer Mukesh Kumar for a colossal INR 5.5 crore, which is their highest buy. To load their available overseas slots, the franchise brought in Rilee Rossouw (INR 4.6 crore) and Phil Salt (INR 2 crore)
The team now has INR 4.45 crore remaining and the following players:
Rishabh Pant (c), David Warner, Prithvi Shaw, Ripal Patel, Rovman Powell, Sarfaraz Khan, Yash Dhull, Mitchell Marsh, Lalit Yadav, Axar Patel, Anrich Nortje, Chetan Sakariya, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Khaleel Ahmed, Lungi Ngidi, Mustafizur Rahman, Aman Khan, Kuldeep Yadav, Praveen Dubey, Vicky Ostwal, Ishant Sharma, Phil Salt, Mukesh Kumar, Manish Pandey, Rilee Rossouw.
RAJASTHAN ROYALS:
Before sitting on the table reserved for them in the Auction 2023, the Royals had INR 13.20 crore in their purse and had to buy a maximum of 9 players with this amount. From these 9 players, 4 slots were reserved for foreigners. The Sanju Samson-led team bought West Indies’ bowler Jason Holder for INR 5.75 crore, the highest amount they paid today. Other players to be bought today were Donovan Ferreira (INR 50 lakh), Kunal Rathore (INR 20 lakh), Adam Zampa (INR 1.5 crore), KM Asif (INR 30 lakh), Murugan Ashwin (INR 20 lakh), Akash Vashisht (INR 20 lakh), Abdul P A (INR 20 lakh) and Joe Root (INR 1 crore).
The team has so far spent INR 91.65 crore for retaining and buying players and have INR 3.35 crore still remaining while a 25-men squad is at their hands to take on oppositions in the 16th season of IPL.
The 25-man squad looks like:
Sanju Samson (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shimron Hetmyer, Devdutt Padikkal, Jos Buttler, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, Prasidh Krishna, Trent Boult, Obed McCoy, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Sen, Kuldip Yadav, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, KC Cariappa, Jason Holder, Donovan Ferreira, Kunal Rathore, Adam Zampa, KM Asif, Murugan Ashwin, Akash Vashisht, Abdul P A, Joe Root.
MUMBAI INDIANS:
The Mumbai-based franchise has the most IPL trophies in their cabinet and adding another one this year will definitely not hurt them. Led by Rohit Sharma, the team had INR 20.55 crore in their purse before the start of the auction. The auction saw them buying the second most expensive player of the day; Cameron Green. The Mumbai team had to pay a ginormous sum of INR 17.50 crore to win the Australian cricketer. Also, this is the highest amount for which an Australian has ever been sold in the celebrated league. Jhye Richardson (INR 1.5 crore), Piyush Chawla (INR 50 lakh), Duan Jansen (INR 20 lakh), Vishnu Vinod (INR 20 lakh), Shams Mulani (INR 20 lakh), Nehal Wadhera (INR 20 lakh) and Raghav Goyal (INR 20 lakh) were the other players who were bought by the franchise today.
Rohit Sharma’s men are:
Rohit Sharma (c), Tim David, Ramandeep Singh, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Tristan Stubbs, Dewald Brevis, Jofra Archer, Jasprit Bumrah, Arjun Tendulkar, Arshad Khan, Kumar Kartikeya, Hrithik Shokeen, Jason Behrendorff, Akash Madhwal, Cameron Green, Jhye Richardson, Piyush Chawla, Duan Jansen, Vishnu Vinod, Shams Mulani, Nehal Wadhera, Raghav Goyal.
The 5 times IPL winners have INR 5 lakh in their purse and 1 slot still unfilled, which will remain so for them, most definitely, for this season.
SUNRISERS HYDERABAD:
With the heaviest purse available before entering the auction, the Hyderabad team had to find players to fill 13 spots for them, which included 4 overseas slots. 7 players were brought in the crores line by SRH, the highest of which was Harry Brook who took INR 13.25 crore for filling one of the team’s overseas slot. Other buys of the franchise were
Mayank Markande (INR 50 lakh), Samarth Vyas (INR 20 lakh), Sanvir Singh (INR 20 lakh), Upendra Yadav (INR 25 lakh), Nitish Kumar Reddy (INR 20 lakh), Anmolpreet Singh (INR 20 lakh)
Sunrisers bought Mayank Agarwal as well who is most likely to lead the side during this season. Amount of INR 6.55 crore still remains in their purse while all of the slots have been filled.
LUCKNOW SUPER GIANTS:
One of the new teams in the previous edition, Lucknow Super Giants had INR 23.35 crore with them this morning. Using this amount they had to buy players for 10 empty spots. INR 16 crore from the available amount was spent on getting the West Indian cricketer Nicholas Pooran, who now rests at 4th position in the list of the most expensive IPL players ever. Other players who were made the part of the Lucknow family today are:
Jaydev Unadkat (INR 50 lakh), Yash Thakur (INR 45 lakh), Romario Shepherd (INR 50 lakh), Daniel Sams (INR 75 lakh), Amit Mishra (INR 50 lakh), Prerak Mankad (INR 20 lakh), Swapnil Singh (INR 20 lakh), Naveen-ul-Haq (INR 50 lakh), Yudhvir Charak (INR 20 lakh).
With these inclusions the KL Rahul led side now has the following players:
KL Rahul (c), Ayush Badoni, Karan Sharma, Manan Vohra, Quinton de Kock, Marcus Stoinis, Krishnappa Gowtham, Deepak Hooda, Kyle Mayers, Krunal Pandya, Avesh Khan, Mohsin Khan, Mark Wood, Mayank Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, Nicholas Pooran, Jaydev Unadkat, Yash Thakur, Romario Shepherd, Daniel Sams, Amit Mishra, Prerak Mankad, Swapnil Singh, Naveen-ul-Haq, Yudhvir Charak.
GUJARAT TITANS:
The title defenders, who were one of the newbies just a season ago, Gujarat Titans bought a few players to complete their 25-man squad. With 7 unfilled slots out of which three were overseas slots and INR 19.25 crores in their bag, the Pandya-led team participated in the auction today. Their highest buy was the uncapped Indian all-rounder Shivam Mavi who they got for INR 6 crore. Rest of the players who were bought today were Kane Williamson (INR 2 crore), Odean Smith (INR 50 lakh), KS Bharat (INR 1.2 crore), Urvil Patel (INR 20 lakh), Joshua Little (INR 4.4 crore) and Mohit Sharma (INR 50 lakh). The day ended for the title winners of the last season with INR 4.45 crore still in their pocket.
The squad of the Hardik Pandya-led teams looks like:
Hardik Pandya (c), Shubman Gill, David Miller, Abhinav Manohar, Sai Sudharsan, Wriddhiman Saha, Matthew Wade, Rashid Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Vijay Shankar, Mohammed Shami, Alzarri Joseph, Yash Dayal, Pradeep Sangwan, Darshan Nalkande, Jayant Yadav, R Sai Kishore, Noor Ahmad, Kane Williamson, Odean Smith, KS Bharat, Shivam Mavi, Urvil Patel, Joshua Little, Mohit Sharma.
