4 players who are in the race for the highest bid at the IPL auctions

The auctions for the 12th season of Indian Premier League is all set to take place on December 18, 2018, in the Pink City of Jaipur.

The franchises are currently busy strategizing and marking their men out for the auctions. With less than a day to go for the event, all franchises would be looking forward to a good grab at the auctions and increase their chances of staking a claim at the title.

Although there has been a lot of discussion along the lines of who the highest bid cricketer can be, here are a few prominent names that may make it big in the upcoming auction. Only time will tell whether anyone among these four or anybody else altogether will make it to the pinnacle of the billion dollar babies list.

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#4. Varun Chakravarthy

Varun's mystery spin could be a vital weapon in the T20 format

To spot mystery bowlers hasn’t been easy at all in world cricket. However, Indian cricket might just produce another mystery bowler at the top level for the world to see and for the bowler himself to evolve.

Tamil Nadu’s Varun Chakravarthy might just be the player to watch out for in the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League. He was outstanding in the Tamil Nadu Premier League and the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

In the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL), Varun bowled a total of 240 deliveries out of which a staggering 125 were dot balls. For any bowler who has bowled a minimum of 15 overs in the league, Varun’s economy of 4.7 was the best of the lot. Moreover, he emerged as the highest wicket-taker in the Group Stage of the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

With an economy of 4.23, Varun bagged 22 wickets in the coveted domestic tournament. After such an impressive performance, if he manages to get the highest bid at the auctions, it won’t be a surprise at all. This is because domestic Indian cricketers have been picked up for huge amounts of money in the past and this may well be the case this year.

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#3. Shimron Hetmyer

The southpaw can easily clear the fence and is particularly outstanding on the on side

Shimron Hetmyer, the left-handed batsman, gave a fantastic audition for the IPL when he displayed some fantastic batting skills in October against India in the limited overs format. In fact, he was one of the very few Windies batsmen in that series who gave the Indian bowlers a run for their money.

Hetmyer’s batting would suit the T20 format and he can definitely make a difference in any squad. In the ODI series against India, Hetmyer scored at an average of over 50 and accumulated a total of 259 runs. The Caribbean batsman was particularly impressive against the spinners and put up an exhibition of sixes for the crowd.

His big hits thereby can easily be a game-changer in a crunch situation and teams would love to go after him at the auctions. His rich form was evident even in the Caribbean Premier League where he amassed a total of 440 runs in 12 innings.

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#2. Oshane Thomas

Most teams will look to draft a fast bowler in their squad

Oshane’s height and his ability to consistently hit high speeds could be the X-factor on certain Indian wickets. Although Thomas struggled to bowl at high speeds for his entire quota of 10 overs in the 50 overs format, a short 4 over spell in the T20 format is arguably best suited for his style of bowling.

At a time when franchises are hunting for a genuine fast bowler, Thomas's right arm fast bowl could be that option for the franchises. A couple of months ago, Thomas did show a lot of promise against the Indian team. The youngster has 26 wickets alongside his name in 17 T20s and has bowled with an economy of around 8 in these games.

Although Oshane Thomas as an option hasn't been talked about at length by cricket pundits, his inclusion in any franchise for a hefty price should not come across as a surprise.

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#1. Shivam Dube

The Mumbai all-rounder is set to get a good response at the auctions

All-rounders like Krunal Pandya and Vijay Shankar are a couple of names that have done well in the past seasons of IPL and have thus got a rise in their pay. However, this year the all-rounder that has kept every franchise on its toes is Shivam Dube.

Mumbai's Shivam Dube showcased his ability in the Mumbai T20 league when he hit Pravin Tambe for 5 sixes in an over. Along with this, Dube has also scored a hundred against Gujarat in the Ranji Trophy where he displayed a different aspect of his game.

On the other hand, Shivam is a useful bowler too. His best performance came against Karnataka where he picked up 7 wickets for just 53 runs.

An Indian all-rounder's inclusion would help the franchises have a more balanced team. This is because of the limitation of having just 4 overseas players in the playing eleven. Keeping this in mind, having a consistent domestic all-rounder is not at all a bad idea.

Follow Sportskeeda for all the latest IPL 2019 Auction news, updates, probable playing XI, fantasy tips and stats.