3 teams whose strategy in the IPL 2023 auction was highly unexpected
All 10 franchises splashed the cash in an extravagant 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) auction, which was held on December 23 in Kochi.
Sam Curran was the most expensive player at the auction as the Punjab Kings snapped him up for a whopping ₹18.25 crore. Other overseas professionals fetched massive sums as well, while a few domestic performers raked in the cash. After the event, most of the teams are on even footing, although they took contrasting paths to get there.
Here are three teams whose strategy in the IPL 2023 auction was highly unexpected.
Honorable Mention: Rajasthan Royals (exhausted their entire purse while bidding for Harry Brook)
#3 Chennai Super Kings
CSK were always going to go hard for former player Curran, who was eventually snapped up by PBKS. After missing out on the Englishman, though, it seemed like the Super Kings would give up on signing an overseas all-rounder of his caliber.
CSK sprung a massive surprise in the very same set, shelling out a whopping ₹16.25 crore for Curran's compatriot Ben Stokes. The all-rounder perhaps doesn't fit into the Super Kings' philosophy as easily as Curran does and is on the wrong side of 30 as well.
Moreover, Stokes' game against spin in T20 cricket isn't as developed as it needs to be for a player of his price tag playing half the season's games at Chepauk. Where will he bat in the CSK playing XI? And how will his bowling complement the existing unit?
CSK's purchase of Stokes wouldn't have been possible had they not pulled out of a deal for Mayank Agarwal, who is a completely different profile of player. Why did they abort their plans to buy an Indian spin-hitter and sign Stokes instead?
CSK are usually prudent at IPL auctions, so they must have had some thinking behind going after MS Dhoni's teammate at the Rising Pune Supergiant. But ahead of the event, few would've expected it to go the way it did for the four-time champions.
#2 Sunrisers Hyderabad
With the biggest purse ahead of the IPL 2023 auction, it seemed inevitable that SRH would end up with one of the three main all-rounders on offer - Ben Stokes, Cameron Green and Sam Curran. While they weren't paddle-shy for these names, Hyderabad eventually ended up splurging on specialist batters.
Harry Brook was signed for a mammoth ₹13.25 crore, while Mayank Agarwal's services were secured for ₹8.25 crore. SRH added another overseas batter to the existing pool of Aiden Markram and Glenn Phillips and another Indian top-order batter to the existing pool of Rahul Tripathi, Abhishek Sharma and Co.
SRH are a touch short of all-rounders, with barely any bridge between the batting and bowling departments. They arguably should've gone harder for one of Stokes, Curran and Green while taking a backseat in the specialist batter sector. But Hyderabad somewhat made up for it towards the end of the IPL 2023 auction, snapping up a series of proven domestic performers on cut-price deals.
#1 Mumbai Indians
Perhaps the biggest shock of the IPL 2023 auction was MI spending a significant portion of their purse on Cameron Green. ₹17.5 crore was the price the five-time champions eventually signed the Aussie for, breaking the bank and also leaving them with very little funds to make up the remaining spots.
Green's signing has left MI with a puzzle to solve regarding their overseas combination. They have barely any quality in the Indian pace department barring Jasprit Bumrah, while the spin section looks even thinner. Rohit Sharma and Co. will need to choose between shoring up their bowling, which looks like it will be taken to the cleaners at the Wankhede, and using overseas slots on batters.
Among Green, Tristan Stubbs, Jofra Archer, Jhye Richardson, Dewald Brevis, Jason Behrendorff and Tim David, only four can play. So which seven Indians will make MI a solid unit? Mumbai's activity in the IPL 2023 auction has left them with a plethora of holes on the roster.