IPL 2019: 3 players whose high base price might come back to haunt them at the auction
The big auctions are all set to take place this month. At the end of 18th December, all the franchises would be done recruiting fresh faces into their sides in order to bolster their rosters.
After an initial list was announced, wherein a whopping 1003 players registered for the IPL, the franchises have submitted a trimmed down list of 346 players, including 226 Indians.
Angelo Mathews, Lasith Malinga, Colin Ingram, Brendon McCullum, Shaun Marsh, D'Arcy Short, Chris Woakes, Sam Curran and Corey Anderson have all placed themselves in the highest bracket.
Naturally, the players might have deliberated quite a lot before setting their base prices. But for a few of them, the franchises might not be willing to shell out too much money, due to a number of different factors.
It is to be kept in mind that this will be a mini-auction, meaning the franchises will have truncated purses - thus lessening the room for aggressive bidding.
On that note, let's look at three players who might not get picked up by any team this IPL owing to their high price tags:
1. Lasith Malinga
The Sri Lankan has undoubtedly been a legendary fast bowler, at least in the limited overs format. With his quirky arm action and searingly quick toe-crushers, Malinga was the gold standard for T20 bowling for a long time.
However, all good things come to an end, and the same applies to Malinga too. Now aged 35, Malinga has not been turning up regularly for Sri Lanka of late. The Sri Lankan cricket board has been skeptical about selecting Malinga, pointing to his dwindling returns and fitness concerns.
The highest wicket taker in the IPL with 154 wickets from 110 matches, Malinga had been an excellent servant for Mumbai Indians. These numbers came at an astounding average of 19.01 and an economy of 6.87 runs per over. However, last year too he was neglected at the auctions, having not being retained by the Mumbai Indians before the mega auctions.
He was later roped in by the Mumbai franchise in a coaching-cum-mentorship capacity. Despite last year's snub, it is surprising to see Malinga place himself in the top bracket yet again.