IPL auction: Top 10 funny memes as Gujarat Titans sign Kane Williamson at the IPL 2023 mini-auction

Gujarat Titans (GT) secured the services of veteran New Zealand batter Kane Williamson in the IPL 2023 mini-auction on Friday, December 23, in Kochi. Williamson was the first player to enter the auction on Friday afternoon, and GT snapped him up at the base price of INR 2 Crore.

Kane Williamson represented the Sunrisers Hyderabad last season and captained the franchise. Things did not pan out well for Hyderabad as they finished bottom of the points table in IPL 2022.

Williamson also endured a lean patch of form with the bat in the season as he struggled to score runs at a healthy rate. Consequently, SRH management parted ways with him ahead of the mini-auction.

Fans expressed mixed reactions after defending champions Gujarat Titans picked Kane Williamson early in the auction. This was arguably surprising considering his poor recent form in the T20 format.

They also highlighted the fact that Williamson's salary got reduced from INR 14 crores to INR 2 crores and used it to compile hilarious memes.

GT assembles a balanced squad at the IPL 2023 mini-auction by adding Kane Williamson to their top-order

Ahead of the auction, GT bid farewell to Jason Roy, Dominic Drakes, Varun Aaron, Gurkeerat Singh, Lockie Ferguson, and Rahmanullah Gurbaz. Titans made some shrewd buys at the mini-auction to fill the voids left behind by these players.

Young Indian pacer Shivam Mavi (INR 6 crore) was their most expensive purchase. Apart from Williamson, they added Ireland fast bowler Joshua Little ( INR 4.4 crore) and West Indies all-rounder Odean Smith (INR 50 L) in the overseas category.

KS Bharat, Urvil Patel, and Mohit Sharma were the rest of their purchases on the day.

Gujarat Titans squad for IPL 2023: Hardik Pandya (c), Shubman Gill, David Miller, Wriddhiman Saha, Matthew Wade, Abhinav Manohar, Sai Sudarshan, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Vijay Shankar, R Sai Kishore, Jayant Yadav, Mohammad Shami, Alzarri Joseph, Yash Dayal, Noor Ahmad, Darshan Nalkande, Pradeep Sangwan, Kane Williamson, Odean Smith, Shivam Mavi, KS Bharat, Urvil Patel, Joshua Little, Mohit Sharma.

About the author

Balakrishna has been a cricket writer at Sportskeeda for almost seven years. A sport that he has been following and playing since he was eight, Balakrishna enjoys the intensity of the sport, skills and strategies applied to get a result out of nowhere, and the thrill that it gives. He also played as a medium pace bowling all-rounder in four inter-college tournaments, winning twice.

Balakrishna’s all-time favorite cricketers are Sachin Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma. He admires Sachin’s stellar performances against legendary bowlers, along with his discipline and humility. Meanwhile, he is a big fan of how Rohit turned around his initial struggles to build a successful career.

He avidly supports Team India and 2016 IPL winners SunRisers Hyderabad. The first World Cup that Balakrishna ever saw was the 2003 World Cup, when Australia comprehensively triumphed over India in the final.

While working, he ensures he only uses reliable sources and provides relevant, ethical, and accurate information. When not working, Balakrishna enjoys playing table tennis and reading non-fiction books.

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