3 teams that desperately need all-rounders at the IPL 2023 auction
The IPL 2023 Auction is less than 24 hours away. The officials of all 10 IPL franchises have reached Kochi for the mini auction. Although only a maximum of 87 players will be sold at this year's auction, fans across the world are excited for the event because of the presence of some marquee names.
Star all-rounders like Sam Curran, Ben Stokes, Shakib Al Hasan, Cameron Green, Kyle Jamieson, Jason Holder, Sikandar Raza, Odean Smith, Mohammad Nabi, Daniel Sams, and Dasun Shanaka are a part of the IPL 2023 Auction.
The aforementioned names can fit well in any of the 10 IPL teams, but here are the three franchises which desperately need all-rounders at the IPL 2023 Auction.
#1 Rajasthan Royals
IPL 2022 runners-up Rajasthan Royals (RR) did a fantastic job at last year's auction. The RR team management spent a lot of money to acquire specialist batters and bowlers. They retained Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal and then added Devdutt Padikkal, Shimron Hetmyer and Rassie van der Dussen to the batting unit.
RR emptied their bowling department before the IPL 2022 Auction. They assembled a dream bowling attack featuring Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna, Kuldeep Sen, Nathan Coulter-Nile, and Obed McCoy at the auction.
However, the one department where Rajasthan Royals did not give themselves too many top-quality options was the all-rounders' section. They only had the likes of Riyan Parag, Daryl Mitchell and Jimmy Neesham as their all-rounders.
They have released both Mitchell and Neesham ahead of the IPL 2023 Auction. With ₹13.2 crore remaining in their auction purse, fans should not be surprised if the Rajasthan Royals go all out to sign two or three all-rounders at the mini auction.
#2 Mumbai Indians
Five-time champions Mumbai Indians (MI) had their worst IPL season in 2022. The majority of fans felt that the team lacked firepower in the all-rounders' and bowling departments. While their fast-bowling attack seems stronger now with the availability of Jofra Archer, their all-rounders' section has been depleted further because of Kieron Pollard's retirement.
MI achieved so much success in the IPL because they had game-changers like Pollard, Hardik Pandya and Krunal Pandya in their all-rounders' section. The Mumbai-based franchise need to target all-rounders of similar quality at the IPL 2023 Auction.
#3 Punjab Kings
Punjab Kings also have some fantastic batters and bowlers in the squad, but their all-rounders' department is vacant. They had the likes of Odean Smith, Liam Livingstone, Shahrukh Khan, Rishi Dhawan and Benny Howell in the squad last season, but Livingstone was the only player who impressed as an all-rounder.
The Kings have changed their coaching staff ahead of the IPL 2023 Auction. They have also let go of some of their expensive players from last season, which has boosted their auction purse to ₹32.2 crore.
The Kings could try to bring Sam Curran back to the team or go hard after someone like Ben Stokes or Cameron Green. Even if they sign one of the aforementioned three players, their chances of winning IPL 2023 will increase considerably.