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A total of 991 players have listed themselves for the 87 spots available in 10 teams for IPL 2023. Out of those, 21 have registered at the highest base price of ₹2 crore and, interestingly, all of them are overseas players.
It is a mini-auction and teams have smaller pockets than what they had last year. Also, considering that only 30 overseas spots are available this year, there's a high chance that a few of these will go unsold as teams look for budget-friendly options.
Below are three top-bracket players who are unlikely to find a new IPL home this year:
# 1 Angelo Mathews
Angelo Mathews last registered for the IPL in 2019, at the highest price of ₹2 crore again, when he was 32 years old, out of the national team, and with a poor T20 record.
It's 2022, the Sri Lankan all-rounder is now 35 years old, hasn't even played a domestic T20 in almost a year and last played a T20I series in March 2021 where he averaged 9.67 with the bat and went for 19 runs in the only over he bowled.
In his prime, the former Delhi Daredevils (now Capitals) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) player was a handy new-ball bowler and a match-winner with the bat. He's way past that stage. Matthews has experience but a T20 strike rate of 119.55 and a bowling average of 32.03 makes him an unexciting option for even the richest team.
With the direction the IPL is going in, he would have found it difficult to get a team even with one-fourth of that base price as ₹2 crore looks all but impossible.
# 2 Travis Head
Travis Head is an ever-exciting Test batter and recently sealed his spot as Australia's ODI opener alongside David Warner with his brilliant batting against England. But his T20 numbers are overwhelming for his base price of ₹2 crore.
He averages under 27 in T20Is with a strike rate of 133.20. For a batter who has played mostly in the top order, having no T20I half-centuries is a red flag. Head was dropped from the national team in 2018 and was called back to a second-string side for the one-off T20I against Pakistan, where he opened and scored 26 (14).
Although it was a good knock, it can't be ignored that Head played just three matches in the last Big Bash League (BBL) season, averaging 3.66. In the previous season, he played four matches but averaged 17.50 and struck at 98.59. He didn't play in Vitality Blast 2022 and scored just 108 runs from nine matches in 2021.
Some IPL teams can do with an experienced left-handed batter, but there are a lot of in-form alternatives available for the same or better price.
# 3 Nathan Coulter-Nile
Like Mathews, Nathan Coulter-Nile is past his best years. The 35-year-old pacer, who can bat a little, has featured in all IPL seasons since 2020. However, he hasn't played more than half of any of those seasons due to injury issues and lack of form.
Rajasthan Royals (RR) signed him for his base price of ₹2 crore in IPL 2022, only to see him get injured in their tournament opener. Coulter-Nile was subsequently ruled out for the remainder of the season. He hasn't even played a single competitive game in any format since then.
It's just too big of a risk to spend ₹2 crore on an injury-prone overseas player who last played international cricket in 2019.
Moreover, with the likes of Riley Meredith, Jhye Richardson, Sean Abbott, and Sherfane Rutherford available for ₹1.5 crore, Coulter-Nile will struggle to find any suitors.
# 4 & 5 Jamie and Craig Overton
It's interesting to see how the Overton twins have put themselves in the ₹2 crore bracket without any T20I experience to their names. The pacers are fringe talents in England and are unlikely to draw much attention at the auction.
Born three minutes early, Jamie is quicker and can tonk the ball better than Craig. Jamie averages 29.70 with the ball and has an economy rate of 9.37 in 83 domestic T20s. Craig has played fewer games and has a slightly better record.
Jamie has played just one Test while Craig has featured in eight Tests and seven ODIs but none of those performances have shown any T20 promise. Craig has been pretty good in the Vitality Blast but Jamie picked up only four and six wickets from 12 matches each in the 2021 and 2022 seasons, respectively.
They have good skills, sure, but haven't shown enough in the shortest format to be picked for ₹2 crore.
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