The Indian Premier League (IPL) Auctions, this year too lived up to its hype as teams went all out to rope in the best in the business.
While some franchises like the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) tried to play it safe by holding their cards close to their chest, The Rising Pune Supergiants and Royal Challengers Bangalore splashed the moolah to sign in some heavyweights.
Overall, all eight franchises chose to strengthen the department they felt they lacked and hence had to pick some stars who have never played in the tournament before.
Here in this piece, we will look at five such heavyweight cricketers for whom it will be a first time in the tournament.
#5 Jason Roy (England)
It came as quite a surprise when teams did not pick the England opener in the first round of the auctions. However, the Gujarat Lions bagged Roy for rupees 1 crore when his name was called again. The right-hander has been in swashbuckling form for the Three Lions in the limited overs format.
Along with Alex Hales, he usually fires at the top of the order for his country which helps them get to healthy totals in both ODIs and T20s.
One of the reasons why England got to the finals of the World T20 in 2016 was because of this man. He played an outstanding innings in the semi-final of the tournament to get his outfit to the finals. But his performances did not earn him a place in any of the franchises last year but this time around the Lions were in no mood to let him go.
And why should they? Roy has a terrific record in domestic T20s. He has scored 3585 runs from 136 games at an average of 28.45 and boasts of a strike rate of 144.49. Roy also has four hundreds and 22 fifties in the format.
At the international level, Roy has scored 369 runs from 19 T20I with a strike rate of 129.92.
#4 Chris Woakes (England)
Two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) badly needed an all-rounder to replace Andre Russell. Thus they decided to try and rope in Chris Woakes and eventually landed him for 4 crores 20 lacs.
The 27-year-old has not played in the IPL before but would love to bowl on the re-laid Eden Gardens surface which nowadays is providing a lot of bounce and swing. Woakes is mainly a seamer who bats brilliantly at times. He is quite a handy cricketer to have in the lower order as he can hit the long ball at will.
Time and again his knocks lower down the order has helped England win games. He is quite a value addition pick for the Knights.
He has thus far scored 656 runs from 87 T20 matches with an average of 26.24. He also has a strike rate of a whopping 138.39. Woakes has 86 wickets from those games and averages 26.10 with the ball.
#3 Kagiso Rabada (South Africa)
A few years back Kagiso Rabada stole the headlines as the teenager who stopped Mahendra Singh Dhoni from getting 10 runs of the last over in an ODI. Since then he has matured as a paceman and is now a talisman for the South African in all three formats.
Therefore the Delhi Daredevils who have had issues with their death bowling paid a hefty price tag of Rs. 5 crores to get hold of the 21-year-old.
Rabada is quite lethal with his spells up front. Also, he gets the slower balls and yorkers in with precision at the death and can thus prove to be a match winner for DD’s in close games.
However, the South African has never played an IPL game before and it will be interesting to see how he gets accustomed to the pitch and the hot weather in Delhi.
But when in full swing, Rabada is a treat to watch and he will be hoping to deliver for his new side when and how he gets a chance. For the record, Rabada has 39 wickets from 30 T20s and 22 wickets from 16 T20Is.
#2 Tymal Mills (England)
Not even in his wildest dreams, Tymal Mills would have imagined that he would start a heavy bidding war in the auction and that eventually, Royal Challengers Bangalore would rope him in for a whopping 12 crore rupees.
In the recent T20 series against India, Mills impressed everyone with his skillset. He could easily go past the 145 km/hr speed mark and then bowl a slower one at 110 km/hr. Mills has also made a name for himself in domestic T20 competitions be it in the Big Bash League (BBL) or the Natwest T20 Blast.
Maybe that is what prompted the Virat Kohli-led side to go all out for the speedster. Also with Mitchell Starc opting out of the tournament Mills will now have bigger responsibilities on his shoulders to deliver.
The 24-year-old left-arm pacer has 63 wickets from 55 T20 outings so far.
#1 Ben Stokes (England)
You will always have your takers in a T20 competition if you are a genuine all rounder and Ben Stokes is one of those very few in world cricket at the moment.
No wonder Rising Pune Supergiants spent 14.5 crores to bag the Englishman. With Stokes, you also get a genuine match-winner who on his day can single handedly take his side to victory.
Stokes has been phenomenal for England in all three formats for the past couple of years. He has matured with every passing game and is getting better with time.
The seamer will be quite handy in the middle overs and the death as he has a brilliant slower ball. It is quite astonishing that Stokes has never featured in the tournament before but surely will be raring to go for this edition.
For the record, Stokes has played in 77 T20s and has amassed 1165 runs and picked 32 wickets. In International T20s he has 192 runs from 21 games and 10 wickets.
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