IPL Player Auction 2017 Highlights: Usually, when the team owners meet one last time to bid for players before their teams actually take the field, fans get to witness a lot of drama and surprises. However, in this year’s IPL Player Auction there were not too many surprises, at least with the most expensive players. Since most teams had their squads sorted and the all the players will go back into the auction next year, after their 10-year contracts run out, the focus was on filling the voids rather than spending huge amounts. As expected England all-rounder Ben Stokes emerged as the top buy with Rising Pune Supergiants willing to spend Rs. 14.5 Crores on him in a bid to improve their last year’s performance where they managed to win just 5 of their 14 matches.
Stokes’ teammate Tymal Mills who has played just 4 T20I matches was the second most expensive player with RCB getting hold of him for Rs. 12 Crores. Mills has a very impressive record in the death overs and his economy rate is just 7.2 but given that England will be playing two series in May, both Stokes and Mills may not be available post 30th April which raises a question whether these teams made a sensible choice or not.
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Lack of quality fast-bowlers in the league also reflected in the bidding approach of the owners. South Africa’s 21-year-old fast bowler Kagiso Rabada was picked by Delhi Daredevils for Rs. 5 Crores who also signed Pat Cummins for Rs. 4.5 Crores. On the other hand, Trent Boult (Rs. 5 Crores) and Chris Woakes (Rs. 4.2 Crores) went to Kolkata Knight Riders and Mitchell Johnson went to Mumbai Indians for Rs. 2 Crores.
The failure of seasoned Indian players in the previous seasons meant that owners were reluctant to waste money on them and preferred to buy uncapped Indian players. Tamil Nadu’s T Natarajan (Rs. 3 Crore to KXIP), Karnataka’s K Gowtham (Rs. 2 Crore to MI) and Rajasthan’s Aniket Choudhary (Rs. 2 Crore to Royal Challengers Bangalore) had a big day in their careers. However, they would be hoping that they get an opportunity to showcase their talent, unlike Nathu Singh who was picked for Rs. 3.2 Crores by Mumbai Indians last year but failed to play a single match.
Just like the sport, the event of auctions has evolved over the years and owners are more focused on team combination rather than on individual players. This is why many big names like Imran Tahir, Ross Taylor, Irfan Pathan and Cheteshwar Pujara remained unsold. Players like Brad Haddin and Nathan Lyon who had set an ambitious base price for themselves also failed to get any bidders. This benefited players who had a comparatively lower base price and Martin Guptill (Rs. 50 Lakh to Kings XI Punjab), Jason Roy (Rs. 1 Crore to Gujarat Lions) and Chris Jordan (Rs. 50 Lakh to Sunrisers Hyderabad), could be called bargain buys.
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The success of Netherland’s Ryan ten Doeschate and Bangladesh’s Mustafizur Rahman in the past, urged the owners to gamble on Afghanistan players as Sunrisers Hyderabad was willing to spend Rs. 4 Crores on 18-year-old leg-spinner Rashid Khan and also picked his teammate Mohammad Nabi for Rs. 30 lakhs. This season was also a comeback call for many forgotten names like Munaf Patel and Manoj Tiwari who can revive their careers like Ashish Nehra.
Teams like Gujarat Lions and Kings XI Punjab went back home with over Rs. 10 Crores left in their wallets which show that the teams have matured in terms of their spending habits as well. Overall, it was a highly strategised and by far the most progressive IPL Player Auction. What we witnessed at the Ritz Carlton in Bengaluru yesterday showed that IPL is much more than what happens on the field, half of the battle is actually won in that auction room even before the real drama begins.