IPL Auction 2018: Unsold XI

The feeling of rejection is something every single living being in this universe has experienced. While epistemologists out there implore us to 'take destiny into our own hands', it is not always that easily accomplished, especially in the world of sport, where every inch, every second counts.

In cricket, or more specifically the IPL, every year, under the raised mallet of Richard Madley lies the fate of hundreds of cricketers, their luck changing with every bid that the franchise owners raise. From the sons of auto rickshaw-wallahs to ex-security guards, fortunes have seldom changed as drastically as in the IPL auctions.

With the IPL poised to enter its 11th season, the auction played a massive role in determining how the teams line up for the marquee event. As many as 159 players found takers, but there were plenty that were left by the wayside, including the likes of Hashim Amla, Moises Henriques and Ishant Sharma who do not feature on this list.

On that note, here is a team comprising 11 of the best unsold players from the 2018 IPL auction.

Openers

T20 cricket is all about going hard at the start and getting off to a flier, and there is no one who has done that more often in the past than Martin Guptill, which makes his presence on this list all the more surprising.

Guptill averages 33 in T20s and strikes at 127, handy numbers for an opener. He is one of the cleanest hitters of the ball and what makes his non-selection even more head-scratching is that he was listed at a base price of just INR 75 lakh. He is also one of a select few batsmen with a T20I century to his name.

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Alex Hales was one of numerous English players who failed to find a suitor in the IPL auction. Hales has fast made a name for himself as one of the leading T20 batsmen in the world, acting as a mercenary of sorts in the shortest format of the game when he is not bludgeoning international bowlers to all corners of the ground in English colors.

Hales has never featured in the IPL before, but has turned out for the likes of the Adelaide Strikers, Duronto Rajshahi, and other T20 franchises across the globe. Hales averages just under 30 and strikes at over 140, exactly what is needed in a top-order batsman.

The only thing that may have counted against him though is his recent form for England, having struggled for consistency against the Australians Down Under, and the fact that England players haven't been available for an entire season of the IPL in the past, what with international and county commitments getting in the way. A base price of INR 1 crore would not have helped either.

Middle-order

Possibly the biggest surprise of the auction, Shaun Marsh, who has given blood, sweat and tears to Kings XI Punjab ever since the inception of the IPL 10 years ago, did not find a single taker. Marsh averages just under 40 in the IPL and has a strike rate of 132 to boot, having played 71 matches so far, impressive numbers for an Australian in the subcontinent.

Marsh even had a successful Ashes campaign with Australia, amassing two centuries and two half-centuries across five matches, but a lack of limited-overs cricket may have counted against him.

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There was no beginner's luck on offer for Joe Root, the England captain, who decided to stick his name in the auction for the first time. A base price of INR 1.5 crore though meant that not a single paddle was raised when his name was called.

Root is one of the most consistently infuriating batsmen in world cricket, simply due to his inability to convert starts into big scores. Add to that his availability (or lack thereof) throughout the tournament and it wasn't too big a surprise that the English skipper went unsold.

While his numbers in the shortest format of the game are as good as anyone's in the business - he has an average of 32 and strike rate of 126 - he isn't in the same mould as an AB de Villiers or even Jason Roy for that matter, who can win games in the matter of a few overs. However, considering many teams were in the market for a leader, Root should have been one of the first names on their minds. A tough one to fathom.

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The English players found no love in the auction, and Eoin Morgan too will be forced to sit at home and twiddle his thumbs in front of the television wondering what could have been. Morgan, unlike Root, has experienced the glitz and glamour of the marquee Indian T20 league, having plied his trade for KKR, RCB, SRH and KXIP in seasons past.

Morgan is your quintessential T20 player, equipped with a whole host of unorthodox strokes. From the lap to the reverse sweep, Morgan has got it all, but somehow his game never took off in the IPL, striking at a meagre 121 from 50 odd games, and at INR 2 crore, he was never going to be a realistic option for most teams.

Wicket-keeper and all-rounders

With all the teams on the lookout for top-quality keepers, it is rather surprising that Luke Ronchi was overlooked. The New Zealander is top-notch behind the stumps and can be devastating with the bat, at the top of the order especially.

Ronchi's strike rate in T20s is 153, and he had a pretty decent outing with Wellington in the Burger King Super Smash, even striking a blistering century in the game against Auckland. However, he is not the most reliable when it comes to scoring runs, and in Indian conditions, may have struggled to get going. With a base price of 75 lakhs though, Ronchi really should have been signed up, at least as a back-up option.

Thisara Perera's career has seen few highs but a lot more lows, the latest one being his exclusion from the 11th edition of the IPL. Perera has all the tools required to succeed in the shortest format of the game: he swings from the hip, connecting more often than not, and also bowls at the death, two of the most coveted skills in an all-rounder in T20 cricket. However, he has more often than not flattered to deceive.

At best described as an IPL journeyman, Perera has represented as many as six franchises over the years, never fully cementing his spot at any of the sides.

Spinners

There are very few things that I struggle to comprehend in this world, apart from String Theory of course, but one of them is definitely how the No. 1 ranked T20I bowler in the world (as of 28th January 2018) did not find a taker in the IPL auction. Ish Sodhi has risen to the top of the bowling charts with stellar spells for New Zealand in the international circuit, but his performances haven't translated into money as franchises were simply unwilling to raise their paddle for the leggie.

Sodhi has an economy rate of just 7.1 in T20Is to go with a strike rate of 17, and considering leg-spinners are in vogue in the shorter formats of the game, the 25-year-old's exclusion is astonishing. With pitches in India tailormade for spinners, the decision to leave out one of the world's best is one that will raise many eyebrows and set tongues wagging.

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The very antithesis of the 'one size fits all' blueprint, Samuel Badree has remarkably taken the field in over 150 T20Is without ever setting foot in the ODI and Test arena. Despite his obvious prowess in the T20 format, Badree has never cracked the IPL code. His economy rate which sits at under 6 in T20s, shoots up to 7.5 in the IPL.

Badree has had stints at Chennai Super Kings, Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore with varying success.

Considering the fact that he can operate in the powerplay, and also taking into account his base price of INR 1 crore, it is rather surprising teams did not have him on their radar.

Seamers

Alas, nothing seems to be going right for Dale Steyn at the moment. Rocked by injuries the past few years, one of the greatest bowlers of all time somehow finds himself without an IPL team for the 2018 edition, despite having taken 92 wickets from 90 matches at an economy rate of 6.7 in the competition.

Steyn has featured for the Royal Challengers Bangalore, Deccan Chargers and the Gujarat Lions in the IPL in past editions, with varying amounts of success.

Devastating with the new ball in all formats of the game on any pitch anywhere in the world, Steyn seems to have made more visits to the hospital than the cricket stadium of late, with his latest injury - the one he picked up against India on his return to the Test arena - ruling him out of action for six weeks. It looks like teams just did not want that uncertainty over his fitness hovering around the air they breathed.

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You would think that the leading wicket-taker in IPL history and three-time champion would be one of the most sought-after players in the auction, but the beauty of sport lies in its sheer unpredictable ruthlessness. Lasith Malinga, Mumbai Indians' spearhead for all these years, sits pretty atop the list of highest wicket-takers having scalped 154 of them in just 110 matches, 20 wickets more than Amit Mishra, but he will not get a chance to add to that tally this time around after going unsold in the auction.

Malinga has had a sensational time of it in the IPL, even winning the Purple Cap in the 2011 season, but his form lately has dipped coinciding with the advent of injuries, resulting in his stock dropping like the market crash of 1929. Moreover, with batsmen becoming more and more inventive in order to thrive as the game shortens, Malinga's yorkers have reduced in their effectiveness, rendering him a lot less useful than in the past.