IPL 2018 Auction: Best buys by each IPL team

There is a part of us that perhaps enjoys the thrill of the auction more than the game itself. When Richard Madley scans the room like a lion hunting for its prey, the hype surrounding the gaze and the gavel hanging in the air with the force of his hand is quite breathtaking to say the least.

‘I am going to sell the player,’ ‘oh, we have a new bidder altogether...’ The words that come out from his mouth is paid more attention to by the viewers than students do while sitting for their exams. In the auction room, he is the king and the rest are just his subjects.

Nothing was different in this year’s auction as Madley beautifully conducted it for two days. One could feel a sense of sadness washing over them when he hit the gavel for the last time this year.

However, there was also a sense of excitement as the teams are ready to go. Almost every team fulfilled their quota of 25 players and each of them have some great players. So here are the best players of each teams, respectively…

Note: RTM buys have not been counted

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#1 Mustafizur Rahman (2.2 crores) – Mumbai Indians

Well, well, it is almost surprising that Sunrisers Hyderabad let go of Mustafizur Rahman. Here is a little bit of a fact for the readers: the season in which the young Bangladeshi spearheaded the bowling attack of David Warner’s team, they won the competition.

Yes, that was in 2016. In 2017, the supremely talented Rashid Khan was picked over him as the foreign bowler. And the Sunrisers fell short in the end.

He joins Mumbai with a great reputation. With 17 IPL games under his belt, he has taken 17 wickets at an average of 26.76, but that is not the best part about him. It is his ability to stop the flow of the runs that makes him a special player.

His economy in the IPL is 7.15, which is just a run higher than his economy of 6.17 in T20Is. Only recently, he took his 50th ODI wicket in his 26th innings—that, too, at an average of 19.2. In short, at 2.2 crores, Mumbai have a bowler on who they can rely upon at any moment.

That’s a steal!

#2 Ben Stokes (12.5 crores) – Rajasthan Royals

Stokes was the MVP last season

Is there any question about this choice? Ben Stokes was the most expensive buy of last IPL when Rising Puse Supergiants signed him for a whopping 14 crore rupees. While his participation in this year’s IPL is still under scrutiny, there is no question that he will set the tournament on fire, should he participate.

Last season, he was chosen as the Most Valuable Player in the tournament. And why wouldn’t he? After all, he scored 316 runs and took 12 wickets in 12 matches for Rising Pune Supergiants. It was perhaps the greatest all-round performance in the history of IPL after Shane Watson’s heroics for Rajasthan Royals in the inaugural season.

And this season, Stokes will don the colours of Rajasthan Royals. Who knows, he might as well go on to emulate Shane Watson and help the Jaipur outfit to win their first IPL since their inaugural triumph.

#3 Gautam Gambhir (2.8 crores) – Delhi Daredevils

Back home

The prodigal son returns home. Nobody really expected Kolkata Knight Riders to let go of their most successful player so easily. Neither was he retained, nor was the RTM card used for him. All of it took most by surprise.

But Kolkata’s loss could be Delhi Daredevils’ gain. You see, the thing is, Gambhir is not only a good opening batsman, he is also a great leader in the dressing room. Kolkata tried a lot of captains, but none could bring them what they craved for.

However, Gambhir came in and led them to two IPL wins. In the meantime, he also scored tons of runs. Indeed, his IPL stats are something like this: 147 innings, 4133 runs, 31.55 average and 124.64 strike-rate.

And at 2.8 crores, Delhi are also getting a captain.

#4 Shakib Al Hasan (2 crores) – Sunrisers Hyderabad

The best all-rounder in the world

When asked about the acquisition of the Bangladeshi all-rounder, Tom Moody said, ‘he can bat anywhere, his batting is underrated.’

Indeed, one of the things about Shakib Al Hasan is that he is not entirely as highly-rated as an all-rounder of his caliber should be. At one point of time, he was the ranked 1 all-rounder in all three formats of the game.

And he held that position for a long time.

While Ben Stokes might be the most explosive all-rounder in the world right now, Shakib Al Hasan is certainly the most consistent one. In the 32 innings that he has played in the IPL, he has made 498 runs at an average of 21.65 and a strike-rate of 130.37.

These might not seem like great numbers, but he was quite underused at KKR, mostly batting in the lower order. With the ball in the IPL, he has taken 43 wickets in 42 innings at an economy rate of 7.17 and an average of 25.6.

And 2 crores for the rank 1 all-rounder in Tests and T20Is is nothing but a bargain.

#5 Chris Woakes (7.4 crores) – Royal Challengers Bangalore

Wakes is turning out to be a terrific all-rounder

This one was a bit difficult to choose for me as I had to pick between him and another player in red-hot form, Colin De Grandhomme. However, the scales are tilted slightly towards the Englishman due his brutality with both bat and ball.

The fact that RCB spent a whopping 7.4 crores on the Englishman is a testament to the amount of reverence that they have for him. Having played in the IPL before, he is not new to the glamour and pressure of the competition.

And yet, he strived to it.

In 13 innings for the Kolkata Knight Riders, he took 17 wickets at an average of 22.71. His economy rate might be on the higher end at 8.77, but he is a wicket-taking bowler and in most cases, that is what truly matters.

However, there is a bonus with him this time. Unlike with KKR, his batting will be much handier. Back then, he wasn’t refined with the bat as he is now. Indeed, since his ODI debut in 2011 till January 1st of 2017, he has averaged just over 22 with the bat.

But since 2017, his batting average has flown to 67.80. Well, the stats don’t lie, do they?

#6 Ravichandran Ashwin (7.7 crores) – Kings XI Punjab

An IPL legend

This was very, very hard for me to choose. The Kings XI Punjab might have looked chaotic in their approach in the auction, but Preity Zinta did get quite a few star players in her team. Some of the names among them are Yuvraj Singh, Chris Gayle and Ravi Ashwin.

So choosing one of them from the three was a quite a bit of a task. However, if you just compare the number of IPL titles that Ashwin helped Chennai Super Kings win in his career, it alone puts him apart from the rest.

While MS Dhoni was the mastermind behind the triumphs of CSK, Ashwin was the beating heart of it.

Ashwin is a proper IPL legend. With 108 innings under his belt, he has taken exactly 100 scalps at an average of just under 25. However, the best part is his economy rate of 6.55. Many a time, his tight and defensive bowling saved games for his team.

And that is precisely what was needed at Kings XI Punjab. They have it now.

#7 Mitchell Starc – Kolkata Knight Riders

Starc helped Australia to a World Cup win in 2015

Well, this was an easy pick. Kolkata might be a star-studded team, but what sets them apart from the rest is that they have the best left-handed pacer in the world with them. Mitchell Starc is a phenom—a force of nature that weaves tempests with that golden left arm.

Indeed, he has played in 27 IPL matches so far, bowling in 26 of them. In those innings, he has taken 34 wickets at an average of 20.38 and an economy rate of 7.16.

Last season was the worst season for the Royal Challengers Bangalore. They went to a place so dark that nothing could really be seen. Mitchell Starc could have provided them with the light. If only they had a performer like him, Bangalore could have done something fruitful last season.

Now, however, Kolkata have him in in their bowling arsenal. And that alone makes them a deadly strike force.

#8 Lungisani Ngidi (50 lac) – Chennai Super Kings

New kid on the blog

This is perhaps the steal of the season. How his signature didn’t wage a bidding war and how he, subsequently, couldn’t fetch more money than he did, is quite astonishing. To some, he might just be a new kid on the block that shook the Indian batting line-up in South Africa.

But he is so much more than just that.

This is a youngster that has a clever head on his shoulders and knows the areas to target while bowling. His numbers in the shortest format of the game speaks volumes about his importance in the format.

In 3 T20Is, he has 6 wickets at an average of 7.33 and an economy of just 5.5 runs-per-over. But that is a little too few games to use as a measurement to judge him.

However, in 38 T20 innings, he has taken 43 wickets at an average of 19.41 and an economy-rate of 7.23 runs-per-over. So you see, he is a new entity that is yet to be figured out by the batsmen—and Chennai Super Kings could take advantage of that.

And they will.