IPL 2019 Auction: One Player from England Who Each Franchise Should Buy
The IPL 2019 auction is scheduled to be held in December. The upcoming season will have an early start due to the ICC Cricket World Cup which starts on May 30. The teams were busy in action during the trading phase of the IPL with Quinton de Kock moving to Mumbai Indians, Shikhar Dhawan to Delhi Daredevils, and Marcus Stoinis to RCB.
The teams also released the official list of players they have retained and those they have released and few decisions were good while few are earning criticism. Aaron Finch's release by the Kings XI Punjab might've been the biggest decision made so far.
England players are slowly starting to get attention from IPL teams and Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes and Jason Roy have established themselves within the IPL circuit. With their attractive brand of cricket rising with every game, many England players will be on the teams' radar.
Here are England players who each team will want to buy:
#1- Royal Challengers Bangalore- Jason Roy
Jason Roy was released by the Delhi Daredevils ahead of the IPL. He didn't have such a good IPL and scored 120 runs in 5 matches last season. With a lot of competition from players like Colin Munro and Prithvi Shaw, he was underutilised and Delhi rightly decided to release the star batsman.
He has had a great year playing for England and has forged a great bond with Jonny Bairstow. He has scored 1181 runs this year in both ODIs and T20Is combined from just 30 innings at a splendid average of 38.03 and has won 3 Man of the Match awards. He has scored 271 runs from 9 T20I matches at a great strike rate of 170 and an average of 30.02.
RCB lack an opener after releasing both de Kock and Brendon Mccullum and a change of team can do wonders for Roy as he can go on to becoming a match winner for RCB while supporting Kohli and ABD.
#2- Sunrisers Hyderabad- Jonny Bairstow
Jonny Bairstow went unsold last IPL auction probably due to a misconception that he was not a T20I player and also due to his high base price of INR 1.5 Crore. This year, he will be one of the top targets after having a tremendous year for England. He has cemented his spot as an opener in the side and was a key part of their rise to the top of the ICC ODI Rankings.
He has scored 999 runs in 21 matches in ODIs averaging 47.57 and has a tremendous strike rate of 120.79 in ODIs. He is aggressive but doesn't clobber or go for rough heaves but plays stylish and proper cricketing shots. Much like KL Rahul, he is a safe wicketkeeper and has solid technique having played Test cricket for a long time before venturing into limited overs cricket.
After releasing Saha, Sunrisers are left without a keeper and Bairstow can solve that issue as well as fill the void which Shikhar Dhawan left and become a mainstay in the team. Warner and Bairstow might be a potentially devastating combo and the SRH camp must have its eyes on Bairstow.