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The IPL auction held in Bengaluru on Monday saw several players go under the hammer and many of them were bought for a significant amount of money. Among those, there were also a few who turned to be useful purchases for franchisees and they could be the ones who could make the difference in the end.Here’s a look at the 5 biggest winners from the auction:NOTE: Those unlucky to miss out include Dinesh Karthik who went to the Royal Challengers Bangalore for Rs. 10.5 crores and Zaheer Khan to the Delhi Daredevils for Rs. 4 crores.
#5 Mumbai Indians
2013 champions Mumbai Indians already have a range of stars in their squad that include the likes of Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, Rohit Sharma etc., so it was interesting to see who they would look to buy from those at the auction.
As it turned out, they went for a large number of ‘value-for-money’ players with Mitchell McClenaghan being bought for Rs. 30 lakhs. Explosive batsman Aiden Blizzard and Indian pacer Abhimanyu Mithun were also purchased for the same amount.
They also reacquired Pragyan Ojha for Rs. 50 lakhs and their most expensive buy turned out to be Australian opener Aaron Finch, who was bought at a price of Rs. 3.2 crores. They also snapped quite a few Indian domestic talent – the likes of J Suchitch, Siddesh Lad, Hardik Pandya, Akshay Wakhare and Nitish Rana – all for Rs. 10 lakhs apiece.
It would be of keen interest for fans to see who eventually gets to play the most amount of games in the upcoming season and how new coach Ricky Ponting devises a combination that would help them win their second IPL title.
#4 Angelo Mathews
Among the several Sri Lankans who were part of the list, only Angelo Mathews found a buyer with the Delhi Daredevils roping him in for Rs. 7.5 crores. Considering that the ongoing World Cup in Australia and New Zealand was to be Mahela Jayawardene’s final tournament as an international cricketer, he might have expected some of the franchises to show interest in him but that didn’t turn out to be the case as he remained unsold.
Mahela’s teammate in the national side for more than a decade, Kumar Sangakkara, too didn't find any buyers on the day as didn’t fast bowler Nuwan Kulasekara. Sachitra Senanayake, who was part of the Knight Riders squad when they won their maiden title in 2012, was also not picked by any of the franchises.
With the likes of Yuvraj Singh also in their side, it would be interesting to see if the 27-year-old Mathews gets a bigger role as the captain of the Daredevils. But regardless of that, there is no doubt that his all-round skills could prove to very effective for the team.
#3 SunRisers Hyderabad
One of the teams that seem to have come extremely well-prepared for the auction were the SunRisers Hyderabad. The team, coached by former Australian player Tom Moody, bought a total of 10 players that included an equal number of overseas and Indian cricketers.
They acquired the services of Kane Williamson, who showed that he can play the shortest format of the game in the Champions League T20 last year, for Rs. 60 lakhs. They spent a total sum of Rs. 3.5 crores on 2 cricketers - Kevin Pietersen and Eoin Morgan - who are suited for the T20 version of the game.
They also bought all-rounder Ravi Bopara, who has previous experience of playing in the tournament for the Kings XI Punjab and also purchased one of the most impressive bowlers in world cricket at the moment - Trent Boult for Rs. 3.8 crores.
Among the Indians, they once again gave slight preference to players who provide all-round skills. Laxmi Ratan Shukla and Prasanth Padmanabhan were bought for Rs. 30 lakhs and Rs. 10 lakhs respectively while batsman Hanuma Vihari was purchased for Rs. 10 lakhs. Praveen Kumar was the second most expensive buy for them at Rs. 2.2 crores and they also got another young fast bowler Siddarth Kaul for Rs. 10 lakh.
The franchise already possessed a good set of foreign players prior to the auction, with the likes of David Warner and Dale Steyn in their ranks. Even among the Indians, they have capped cricketers like Shikhar Dhawan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar etc. at their disposal.
With the inclusion of the above players, they have further bolstered their squad and can certainly be termed as one of the front runners to make it to the final four of the upcoming season of the IPL.
#2 Yuvraj Singh
Prior to the start of the auction, Yuvraj Singh was seen as one of the players on whom franchises would show interest in. The 33-year-old was released by the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) after he scored just 376 runs in 14 games in the 2014 edition of the league. He didn't prove to be too effective with the ball either, taking a mere 5 wickets.
The Rajasthan Royals began the bidding for the left-hander, followed by the Kings XI Punjab. After an initial battle between the two, the Delhi Daredevils (DD) entered the race. At the 5-crore mark, the Royals opted out and RCB started to compete with the Daredevils.
The two franchises went toe-to-toe for Yuvraj and eventually at the 16-crore mark, RCB opted out thereby paving the way for him to join DD.
This will be the fourth franchise that he will be representing in the T20 competition and he will be hoping to play a big role in his side’s quest to win their maiden title.
#1 KC Cariappa
While several popular and well-known cricketers went for a reasonable sum at the auction, one name that caught everyone’s attention was little known KC Cariappa, who was purchased by reigning champions Kolkata Knight Riders for Rs. 2.4 crores.
The 20-year-old is yet to feature in a game at the senior level for his state Karnataka, but is extremely popular in Bengaluru’s local cricketing scene. Speaking in an interview to Live Mint, he revealed that he is mainly a leg-spinner who has many variations at his disposal.
“I began by playing tennis ball cricket. Leather ball cricket happened by chance, and once I started bowling with the leather ball, the people around me encouraged me to bowl. My stock delivery is the leg spinner and I bowl the carrom ball and I am working harder on my off-spin,” he said.
His performances in the Karnataka Premier League were quite impressive as well, having taken 11 wickets while playing for the Bijapur Bulls in the competition.
The Kolkata-based franchise have in the past tasted success by putting their faith on relatively unknown talent. They roped in Sunil Narine in 2012 and also tried left-arm chinamen spinner Kuldeep Yadav in the Champions League last year. It remains to be seen now whether their third attempt brings them joy or not.
