IPL 2019: 5 Indian players who could be bargain buys

Shivam Dube
Shivam Dube

The IPL auction for the 2019 season is set to take place at Jaipur on 18th December. The mind-boggling event excites and pressurizes not only the franchises and the cricketers but the supporters as well. All the eight teams have already announced the players they have retained and the unfortunate few that they have released. Their focus will now be on filling the gaps.

The auction taking place for the 2019 season is not a complete reshuffle as the existing players already have three years contract set in place. All the teams will be trying to find the best fitting missing pieces in their puzzle. While 232 overseas players shall eye the limited few spots, there will be around 771 Indian cricketers who will be available for the franchises. After all, it’s the Indian Premier League.

Among the released players and the unsold players from the 2018 players auction, there are many names who can be extremely valuable for the franchises. Here are five Indian cricketers who shall be bargain buys in the upcoming auction.

#5 Shivam Dube

The 25-year-old all-rounder from Mumbai has grabbed everyone’s attention with his splendid performances for the side. In the ongoing Ranji Trophy season, he is the leading run-getter for Mumbai. Dube scored a scintillating 114 and 69 not out against the Railways and followed it up with a spell of 7/53 against Karnataka.

The strongly built boy has gone unsold in the previous auctions, but his fortune may change this time. Dube’s aid this year will be his exceptional performance in the Mumbai Premier League. Turning out for the Shivaji Park Lions in the T20 tournament, Dube cleared the Wankhede boundary ropes with ease.

Power-hitting alongside medium-pace bowling is a combination that every franchise can shell out an enormous amount for. However, Dube has remained relatively low-profile so far.

Unless the franchises initiate a bidding war, the all-rounder could be bought relatively cheaply.

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#4 KB Arun Karthik

KB Arun Karthik
KB Arun Karthik

Die-hard IPL fans and Royal Challengers Bangalore supporters will remember KB Arun Karthik very well. RCB needed six runs from the last ball against South Australia to enter the semi-final of the Champions League T20 2011. Karthik pulled off a Miandad and smashed Dan Christian for a six off the last ball. Despite the heroics, his IPL career did not skyrocket in the upcoming years.

It was the 2018 season of the Tamil Nadu Premier League which revived Karthik’s dwindling career. The 32-year old opened the innings for Madurai team which had not won a single game for past two years. Karthik was the dominant performer for the team throughout and guided the team to the championship in the final as well. The right-hander ended up as the highest run-getter in the tournament.

KB Arun Karthik is a seasoned campaigner and has the ability to adapt his game as per requirement. Along with his batting at the top, Karthik can perform the keeping duties also. He will be a tremendous asset for any IPL team.

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#3 Barindar Sran

Barinder Sran
Barinder Sran

It may seem as if Barinder Sran’s best days are behind him, but let us not disregard the fact that he is only 26 years old. The tall bowler from Haryana has already represented three IPL franchises in his four-year career.

His best season came while playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2016 where the left-arm quick picked up 14 wickets in as many matches. After a solitary game in IPL 2017, he was picked by Kings XI Punjab.

Sran’s stint at Kings XI Punjab in IPL 2018 was terrible, to say the least. The bowler featured in six matches where he snared only four wickets and conceded more than 10 runs per over. The Punjab franchise has released him for the upcoming season.

Barinder Sran will not be the most desired bowler in the player's list but he can be a great addition into any team. A left-arm pace bowler provides a unique bowling angle that the batsmen find difficult to face. Sran still has pace, and he can strike big in the end overs as well.

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#2 Manoj Tiwary

Manoj Tiwary
Manoj Tiwary

Bengal's Captain Manoj Tiwary has been out of favor with the national selectors for a long time. To add to his woes, Tiwary was snubbed by the Kings XI Punjab franchise this year. He was released by the team after scoring 47 runs in five matches. The wounded cricketer will be eager to make a comeback.

Manoj Tiwary has played in ten editions of the IPL (2008-2018, unsold in 2016). In 98 IPL matches, he has amassed 1695 runs at an average of 28.72 with seven half-centuries. 2017 was a very fruitful season for him as he scored 324 runs for the Pune team at an average of 32 and at a strike rate of 137. Tiwary has been a prolific run-getter in the Indian domestic circuit.

The 33-year old is not getting any younger and does not possess the power-hitter's game, but he has a calm head that can save a drowning team. He can play the anchor role and up the tempo as needed. His almost under-arm bowling (like Kedar Jadhav) will be an effective weapon for the team as well. Not many are likely to bid for the ageing star but he can be a great value-for-money player.

#1 Athisayaraj Davidson

Athisayaraj Davidson
Athisayaraj Davidson

Another name that has emerged out from the TNPL in the last two years is that of the slingy pace bowler Athisayaraj Davidson. With his Malinga-like bowling action, Davidson was called up by the Mumbai Indians for a trial in 2018 but he narrowly missed out on the IPL opportunity.

In the 2018 season of the TNPL, Davidson continued his wicket-taking spree and was the leading wicket-taker of the tournament until the final. He ended with 13 scalps from seven matches. Davidson proved highly effective in the death overs and the batsmen struggled to put him away.

While Davidson will have to improve on his bowling speed and accuracy to be impressive at the IPL level, he has the basic framework ready. A bowler who can bowl yorkers and low full-tosses at demand is worth his weight in gold in T20 cricket. It will be a real steal if any team secures him at his base price and uses him as the surprise weapon in crucial games.

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Edited by Aadya Sharma