Hit, Miss or Meh | How each team fared in this year's IPL auction

BySritama Panda, SportsCafe Editor

12/19/2019

All the build-up, the anticipation and the excitement had led us to the grand IPL auction that was held in Kolkata and that is now over. What we have on our plate is the complete lists of squads and so we, here at SportsCafe, have arranged a post-auction round up, team-wise, for all you fans.

Chennai Super Kings

Players bought: Sam Curran, Piyush Chawla, Josh Hazlewood, R Sai Kishore

Come and get the job done, Chennai Super Kings are just professional like that. While Piyush Chawla’s 6.75 crore deal was an overpriced arrangement, considering they always wanted him, it was certainly a good signing. However, not great. Just similar to the rest of their signings. Frankly, they hit the nail with the roping in of Sam Curran, as a left-arm pacer with variations was always a want at the slow Chepauk pitch. R Sai Kishore, at his base price of 20L, was a steal, but again, not spectacular. Overall, Dhoni might be happy with the signings, but expected some more drama, a roar from the Lions!

VERDICT: MEH

Mumbai Indians

Players bought: Chris Lynn, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Mohsin Khan, Digvijay Deshmukh, Prince Balwant Rai Singh

The four-time champions Mumbai Indians know their way around the competition. If momentum works in cricket, it’s not a myth in the breakneck IPL auctions either and that fact was proven by how the defending champions fared on Thursday. At the very beginning, the Mumbai team had the luck of roping in Chris Lynn at his base price of 2 crore without any bidding war. To make things interesting, the two big guns of the IPL, Mumbai and Chennai, went all in for a bidding war over Nathan Coulter-Nile. Mumbai, who went on to win that battle, then took a seat on their resting chairs to enjoy the rest of the auction with laidback buys.

VERDICT: HIT

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Players bought: Chris Morris, Aaron Finch, Joshua Phillipe, Kane Richardson, Pavan Deshpande, Dale Steyn, Shahbaz Ahmed, Isuru Udana

Firstly, did the Royal Challengers even come prepared for the auction or were just there for the sake of it? Or, perhaps, they were only interested in the sumptuous meal or High-Tea, as you may, of the JW Marriott at Kolkata. Going by the 11 players that they released ahead of the auction, they badly needed a hard-hitting overseas batsman, someone to consolidate the middle order and, definitely, an overseas pacer. Instead, they spent over 35% of their purse on Chris Morris and 23% of the remaining amount on Aaron Finch. The rest was all about going ahead and filling the space rather than the real holes. Amidst all that, I believe, getting a backup wicketkeeper for Parthiv Patel in the form of Joshua Phillipe was a good deal.

VERDICT: MISS

Kolkata Knight Riders

Players bought: Eoin Morgan, Pat Cummins, Varun Chakravarthy, Rahul Tripathi, M Siddharth, Chris Green, Tom Banton, Pravin Tambe, Nikhil Naik

If home advantage means anything in sport, Kolkata Knight Riders enjoyed it immensely. Going into the auction with the second-hight purse amount, they made sure that the team sports big names as they always do. KKR walked down the roads of nostalgia with the signings of Eoin Morgan, who played for them in the 2011-13 editions, and that of Pat Cummins, who was roped in by them in 2014 but never played for the side. But surely, oh my god, they went all in for the Aussie pacer. KKR made sure Cummins lived up to his hype as they bought him for 15.5 crore, the highest ever overseas bid, and that marked the highest point of the auction. With the signings of Rahul Tripathi (that was a steal deal!), Tom Baton and Varun Chakravarthy, the Kolkata-based franchise sure covered all bases.

VERDICT: HIT

Delhi Capitals

Players bought: Jason Roy, Chris Woakes, Alex Carey, Shimron Hetmyer, Mohit Sharma, Tushar Deshpande, Marcus Stoinis, Lalit Yadav

Just like Mumbai Indians, the dark horses of the IPL, Delhi Capitals had a great start with the signings of Jason Roy and Chris Woakes, both at 1.5 crores. The India-heavy team needed quite a few overseas recruits, as suggested by birthday boy Ricky Ponting, and they stuck by the script. As a power hitter, they got Shimron Hetmyer. Among the all-rounders, they sport Woakes and Stoinis. And in Alex Carey, they have a backup wicketkeeper to fall on. Easily, the rechristened team has extended its luck to this season, as they enjoyed a great IPL auction!

VERDICT: HIT

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Players bought: Virat Singh, Priyam Garg, Mitchell Marsh, Fabian Allen, Abdul Samad, Sanjay Yadav

Champions once, finalists in 2018, the Sunrisers had to free themselves of being David Warner-heavy. With an unquestionably set top-order, their biggest need was a big-hitter, a finisher down the order. Instead, they went for Virat Singh and Priyam Garg, who bat up the order. And Mitchell Marsh and Fabian Allen are not good enough hitters to complete a game. The top and lower orders are a complete mismatch. Moreover, they needed an overseas pacer in the mix, but that was seen in their body language during the proceedings in Kolkata. A lot was expected of this team, but the thinktanks have disappointed us immensely. The biggest proof of that being a total of 10.1 crores remaining in the purse but no big buys at all.

VERDICT: MISS

Rajasthan Royals

Players bought: Robin Uthappa, Jaydev Unadkat, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Akash Singh, Kartik Tyagi, David Miller, Oshane Thomas, Andrew Tye, Tom Curran

Firstly, I still can’t wrap my head around the pink jersey, a design stolen from Cornetto ice-cream’s unicorn edition. Secondly, their actions are not really unexpected, but mostly, bizarre. They did sign Robin Uthappa in place of their ex-stabilizer Ajinkya Rahane, and Yashasvi Jaiswal’s deal was a pure steal. But, with 14.75 crores remaining, they could’ve done a lot more. The pace department looks more or less okay with the signings of Unadkat(yes! The Royals just love him) and Andrew Tye. Kartik Tyagi might turn out to be an X-factor. Now, coming to the recruitment of David Miller, yes he’s a big hitter. But I’m not sure how much can a team that has Jos Buttler, Steve Smith, Jofra Archer and Ben Stokes use Miller. They could’ve gone for an Indian finisher and made it interesting. Contrastingly, with 14.75 crores still left in their purse, the Royals could’ve gone for a big buy.

VERDICT: MISS

Kings XI Punjab

Players bought: Glenn Maxwell, Sheldon Cottrell, Deepak Hooda, Ishan Porel, Ravi Bishnoi, James Neesham, Chris Jordan, Tajinder Dhillon, Prabhsimran Singh

One of my favourite performers in the IPL auction was the one with the most amount of money to spend. I guess it was Anil Kumble’s brainstorming that helped the Kings XI Punjab tick all the right boxes as well they lived up to the great, great, hype of the big day. They went all in for Glenn Maxwell, who is considered to be at the form of his life and Sheldon Cottrell who has proven himself immensely in the international arena. The signing of James Neesham was again a steal as the Kiwi has been squeezing all lemons that are being thrown at him and yielding glass after glass of lemonade. In Chris Jordan, they find the best death bowler in business. Overall, it was a win-win spectator wise and business-wise.

VERDICT: HIT