IPL 2023: What makes the mini auctions go mega on bids?

It may have been called a ‘mini auction’ as per tradition, but it was far from it in terms of impact on Friday. As many as three of the top grossers in IPL history – young Sam Curran, Cameroon Green and strongman Ben Stokes grabbed the headlines as allrounders ruled the roost at the coastal city of Kerala.

Why is it that such auctions, held in the intervening years of a IPL cycle, often see such mega deals? When Rajasthan Royals went for broke to cough out Rs 16.25 crores for the injury-prone South African allrounder in 2021, it was a pathbreaking pay day in the history of the league – till Curran happened.

As the franchises huddle on their respective tables in a mini auction with the the residual purse strings (calculated after the retention and release of players), their think thank work with a tunnel vision and pull out on all stops to address their vacancies or weak areas with the best possible candidates. Much like Morris’ case when a shrewd  cricketing brain like Kumar Sangakkara, Director of Cricket of Royals, admitted that the price tag for the South African was on the higher side – the tug-o-war for a particular cricketer often sees the price tag going through the roof.  The pool of players to choose from being also limited in a mini auction, it’s not unusual of see a few chosen ones laughing their way to the bank.

Just ponder this – the coming season will see a third captain in as many seasons for Punjab Kings. After K.L.Rahul failed to bring about a change of luck during his tenure at the top, the mantle was passed on to Mayank Agarwal last year for just one season. However, the inclusion of Trevor Bayliss as the head coach saw them build their core overseas strength around a potent English trio (Curran, Jonny Bairstow, Liam Livingstone) and the retained Sri Lankan batsman Bhanuka Rajapaksa and it will hopefully bring them luck.

Take the three mega buys on Friday. It’s not difficult to gauge that Mumbai Indians, the five-time champions who finished as wooden spooners this season, wanted a seaming allrounder and a hard-hitter badly who could fill in the vaccum left by Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard, while Chennai Super Kings could have been looking for a future captaincy candidate in the 31-year-old Stokes.

The Mumbai Paltans’ first choice was Curran and they went upto an offer of 18.25 crores – till they were eventually outbid by the under-achieving Punjab franchise and had to settle for Australia’s Cameron Green. The vastly improved Curran, who has now become the costliest IPL player at 18.50 crores, cut his teeth in IPL with Punjab in 2019 – but it would be interesting to see how they utilise this gifted cricketer with a mature cricket brain.

The IPL experience tells you that price tags have not often been the guarantee for befitting performances – rather it had been judicious buying and team effort which has won the day. The desperation of the Ness Wadia-co-owned franchise, which had only one runners-up performance to show for in 2014, is understandable but there can be no alternative to continuity – and this is where they have been found lacking.

Just ponder this – the coming season will see a third captain in as many seasons for Punjab Kings. After K.L.Rahul failed to bring about a change of luck during his tenure at the top, the mantle was passed on to Mayank Agarwal last year for just one season. However, the inclusion of Trevor Bayliss as the head coach saw them build their core overseas strength around a potent English trio (Curran, Jonny Bairstow, Liam Livingstone) and the retained Sri Lankan batsman Bhanuka Rajapaksa and it will hopefully bring them luck.

The price tag for England batsman Harry Brook, a talk of the town in international cricket over last two months, who has moved to Sunrisers Hyderabad for a whopping 13.25 crores (the Orange Army came with a handsome purse after having released Kane Williamson), shows that they were keen to have an impact player in the line-up after suffering from batting woes in the 2022 season.

Like every auction has it’s quota of surprises, Nicholas Pooran stood out for his price tag of 16 crores to Lucknow Super Giants. Gautam Gambhir, the LSG mentor, said that he wanted to build the team around Rahul and Pooran, the former West Indies T20I captain who resigned after a disastrous campaign in the T20 World Cup where they failed to qualify for the Super-12.

A blow-hot-blow-cold customer, Pooran had a decent IPL 2022 though, being among the few notable performers in an insipid season for Sunrisers. He made 306 runs including two fifties at an average of 38.25 and a strike rate of 144.33.

Only time will tell if the Currans and Brooks can justify the cash-shower on them!