This season’s Indian Premier League Auction took place on Monday 20th February and as always it proved to be an important event on the IPL cricket calendar. A grand total of 351 were up for grabs in the auction for the Indian franchises to go for, the majority of whom were from local Indian roots. However, there were also 151 foreign players available to the sides including six English players who will join Jos Buttler and Sam Billings in India.
All-rounder Ben Stokes was the key superstar for sale and it was the Rising Pune Supergiants, who snapped up the Englishman for a cool $2.1 million. Despite the capture of Stokes being huge for the Pune franchise, it’s very debatable whether he’s really what they needed. The Rising Pune Supergiants released the most players in all of the Indian Premier League meaning that if anything they perhaps could have done with securing a larger quantity of players rather than going for a singular high quality man. But regardless of what you think about their buying strategy there’s no doubting that securing Stokes for the team is a very good move as he does have the capability to go on to be a star in the IPL. It’s just that the Pune franchise might find themselves concerned about their lack of fast bowlers and overall a fairly unbalanced team.
Another franchise who bought big were the Royal Challengers Bangalore. RCB shelled out a hefty $1.7 million for Englishman Tymal Mills. Completing the list for the top 5 most expensive purchases were that of Kagiso Rabada and Pat Cummins, both to the Delhi Daredevils for $746,000 and $671,000 respectively. The final man on the list is Trent Boult signing for the Kolkata Knight Riders for $746,000.
But which franchises made the most of this years auction?
Perhaps the best business was done by the Delhi Daredevils. The Daredevils made a selection of huge signings including Kagiso Rabada and Pat Cummins and in the process filling some of the gaps in their squad. It could be said that the Daredevils should have looked for a replacement for Imran Tahir but realistically what signings the franchise did make could prove to be hugely influential in the coming season.
Another franchise on the winning side in the auction were the Sunrisers Hyderabad. The reigning champions knew exactly what they needed and they went out and got precisely that. The franchise were gagging for a specialist spinner and they secured the signings of Pravin Tambe and Rashid Khan to bolster the squad. The Sunrisers also purchased Eklavya Dwivedi in the form of a back up wicketkeeper. Although proving nothing is perfect the Sunrisers could have done with securing the services of a strong batsman. Last time out the franchise were very reliant on the form of David Warner on their route to becoming champions and so if he doesn’t find the same form this season Sunrisers Hyderabad could find themselves less successful than the previous campaign.
One side that certainly didn’t make the most of the auction were the Gujarat Lions. It’s no secret that the Lions struggled with inconsistent bowling last season and so surely it was obvious that this needed to be addressed. But for whatever reason they failed to sign no obvious significant bowlers.
Overall the Indian Premier League 2017 auction proved to be an interesting one and it’s anyones guess what will happen when the season gets underway on the 5th April. Reigning champions Sunrisers Hyderabad’s strong performance in the auction could lead to them competing for the title once again or will another side find form? Only time will tell.
