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The 2019 IPL auction was fun to watch especially for all the cricket fans around the world. As usual, there were surprises as some big names like Brendon McCullum and Dale Steyn who went unsold at the auction. The teams spent pretty much what they had in their kitty.
Mistakes are part and parcel of the auction and hence are committed by almost every team while picking players or choosing to ignore some of them. The teams which overcome them on the pitch are finally the real champions.
The teams will hope that these mistakes do not cost them too much in the long run and they find the apt replacements as the tournament progresses.
Let us have a look at the one mistake made by each franchise at the IPL Auction 2019.
Note: Only those teams who picked more than 5 players have been considered here.
Royal Challengers Banglore- Were unable to pick a decent fast bowler
The Royal Challengers Banglore, despite having a formidable batting line-up consisting of Virat Kohli and AB de Villers were, unfortunately, let down by their miserable bowling department last year and hence couldn't compete for the IPL title effectively.
Their fast bowlers have been quite expensive, are incapable of bowling quality yorkers and thus have been smashed all over the park particularly while defending a target at the Chinnaswamy Stadium which is considered their fortress. This problem has persisted for several seasons and has not been firmly dealt with by the RCB think tank.
At the 2019 auction, the RCB picked quality batsmen like Hetmyer and the explosive Shivam Dubey. Despite knowing that their weakness of lack of quality pacers, the RCB ignored this area and hence will now go into the tournament with a weak pace attack which will again be challenged to restrict the opposition during the death overs in 2019.
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Kings XI Punjab- Overspending on some players
The Kings XI Punjab signed the youngster Varun Chakravarthy for 8.4 crores after a fierce bidding war in the room. With Ravichandran Ashwin and Mujeeb ur Rahman already in their squad, there is hardly any room for a third spinner in the XI.
Also, Ashwin is not in contention for India's World Cup squad and hence picking his backup might turn out to be unnecessary. It was unwise on the part of the Kings XI Punjab to spend such a gigantic amount on Varun Chakravarthy.
The KXIP bought Sam Curran for a whopping figure of 7.2 crores even though he might feature for England at the 2019 World Cup and hence might miss more than half of the tournament.
England are also playing an ODI series against Pakistan starting from May 5, 2019, and hence Curran's participation in the tournament might be further cut short.
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Mumbai Indians- Did not go after Axar Patel
The Mumbai Indians missed a trick by not pursuing the experienced IPL campaigner Axar Patel at the auction. In the last season, Mumbai played mainly played Mayank Markande and Krunal Pandya as their two front-line spinners.
While Krunal Pandya was under-bowled, Markande started the tournament well but went for a lot of runs at the fag end. The Delhi Capitals purchased Axar Patel and MI missed out on a quality spinner.
Hence, the Mumbai Indians ignored a skilled and smart bowler who is known for his accuracy, ability to keep things tight in the middle and score some crucial runs for his team in the death overs with the bat.
Axar could have also provided competition to the two spinners mentioned above and hence strengthened the Mumbai Indians' bowling department.
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Kolkata Knight Riders- Buying inexperienced foreign players
The Kolkata Knight Riders released some experienced pacers like Mitchell Starc and Mitchell Johnson before the auction. Hence, their main requirement was to sign a skilled speedster at the auction.
Despite this, the Kolkata Knight Riders went into the auction and bought some young and inexperienced players like Lockie Ferguson, Arnich Nortje and Harry Gurney who are unheard of by the Indian fans.
Instead, they should have opted for a veteran IPL seamer like Morne Morkel who has been a leading wicket-taker in a season for the erstwhile Delhi Daredevils in the past.
Another plus in the signing of Morne Morkel would have been that he has played for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the past and familiar with the conditions at the Eden Garden. Hence, it seems that the Kolkata Knight Riders have made a massive error by not picking seasoned overseas fast bowlers.
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Rajasthan Royals- Picking low key players
The Rajasthan Royals picked some low-key players who have a track record of failing at the big stage. Firstly, they signed back Unadkat who was quite poor for them last season and didn't bring them rich dividends for the vast amount spent by them. At this auction too, they spent a giant 8.4 crores on him.
The second low key player they have signed is Varun Aaron who fetched 2.4 crores. He is not a proven performer in T20 cricket and is known to leak a lot of runs. Aaron is not a reliable bowler in death overs which was the reason behind him not getting picked in 2018.
Nail-biting finishes in must-win games bring out the difference between a seasoned campaigner and an inexperienced low-key player. At the moment, the RR do not seem to have many of the former type.
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Delhi Capitals- Picking up inexperienced bowlers
The Delhi Capitals were going into the auction with a huge purse which they didn't utilise in the wisest way for the most part while picking bowlers.
While Axar Patel was a good signing, the Capitals opted to buy some inexperienced players like Nathu Singh and Keemo Paul rather than bringing back their released speedster Mohammed Shami. Nathu Singh has not played a lot of cricket at the big stage and Keemo Paul was horrible on the Windies tour of India in 2018.
Also, Delhi bought Ishant Sharma who is not known to be a penetrative bowler in the T20 format. It would be interesting to see whether these players can repay the faith shown by the team in the tournament.
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