There were some massive surprises. Some exclusions that one would not have agreed with, and some picks that could well be questioned. Certain players who had not done anything of note in recent times were still bought. Did the franchises commit a blunder by spending precious money on spent forces?
New Delhi: Anxiety, thrill, joy, disappointment. Almost every player who went under the hammer in the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction at Jaipur on Tuesday would have gone through these emotions.
There were some massive surprises. Some exclusions that one would not have agreed with, and some picks that could well be questioned. Certain players who had not done anything of note in recent times were still bought. Did the franchises commit a blunder by spending precious money on spent forces?
Here are 5 players who one is not sure warranted a rise of the paddle
Once the 'prince' of the Indian team, who had played a leading role in India's World Cup win in 2011, Yuvraj has hardly been the player he was after being diagnosed with cancer. He came back cured, but has not been able the recreate the silken touch he was known for. The only innings of any significance for India that he played after coming back into cricket was the 150 against England at Cuttack and a quickfire half-century against Pakistan in the Champions Trophy last year. He has fallen out of favour with the Indian selectors thereafter. It was not surprising that Yuvraj was not taken in the first round, but was taken in the first acceleration round for his base price of Rs 1 crore. But what was surprising is the price at which Yuvraj was bought and the fact that he was bought at all.
Also read: Full list of sold, unsold players at IPL 2019 auction
Ishant Sharma has been bowling well, but only in the longer formats of the game — Test cricket and Ranji Trophy. Ishant was taken in the original auctions in 2017, but given a second chance by the Kings XI Punjab. He, however, did not exactly set the stage on fire. He found no IPL team 2018. Still, the lanky pacer was signed up by the Delhi Capitals for Rs 1.1 crore in the auctions on Tuesday.
Ricky Ponting, the Delhi Capitals coach, who was on commentary duty for the first two Test matches during India's ongoing tour of Australia, has first-hand experience of how good Ishant has been with the red ball, but his limited-over numbers — particularly in the shortest format — aren’t great.
The 30-year old pacer Mohit Sharma, who made an impression for India in World Cup 2015 and was the second-highest wicket-taker in the IPL the year before, was bought by the Chennai Super Kings for Rs 5 crore in the auction on Tuesday. Last season, his figures for the Kings XI Punjab read: 9 matches and 7 wickets at an average of 46 and strike rate 25.42.
Mohit has a lot of control over the knuckle ball, which is a very potent weapon in a slam-bang format with batsmen looking to hit almost every delivery. However, has he done anything really significant since the last IPL to jutify such a huge price at the auction?
The Mumbai Indians signed the Punjab medium pacer, who has so far played six ODIs and two T20Is for India, for Rs 3.4 crore. The MI squad desperately needed to bolster their Indian fast bowling line-up but that does not explain why they chose the 26-year old Sran, who has done very little in the past few months and was released by the Kings XI Punjab?
The Kings XI Punjab signed up Sarfaraz for Rs 25 lakh but the 21-year old’s selection is really puzzling. He has bowled only 18 deliveries in 78 matches at the senior level and is yet to pick up a wicket.
He has not played a single senior-level competitive cricket match since the last IPL and his last senior-level competitive match was against the Rajasthan Royals on May 19, 2018. The Royal Challengers Bangalore, who had retained him last season, had released him before the auctions for this season.
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