IPL 2019: Top 5 Windies players who can have a major impact in IPL
The recently concluded IPL auction, which was held on 18 December in the Pink City, was full of drama as many big names like Brendon McCullum, Shaun Marsh, and Dale Steyn went unsold. Meanwhile, uncapped Indian Varun Chakravarthy was bagged by Kings XI Punjab for ₹ 8.4 crores.
Only nine Windies players took part in the auction. Out of these, six found buyers while the other three went unsold. The biggest name to miss out was Jason Holder. Other than Holder, bowler Khary Pierre and all-rounder Fabian Allen are the two players from the Caribbean who went unsold.
Youngsters Nicholas Pooran and Shimron Hetmyer fetched ₹ 4.20 crores each while Carlos Brathwaite was the most expensive Windies player sold in the 2019 IPL Auction as he was picked by KKR for ₹ 5 crores.
The three other Caribbean players who went under the hammer were Keemo Paul, Oshane Thomas, and Sherfane Rutherford who were picked for ₹ 50 lac, ₹ 1.10 crores and ₹ 2 crores respectively.
Six Windies players were retained by different franchisees. Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Evin Lewis, and Kieron Pollard were the players who were retained.
Here are the five players who can cause plenty of problems for their oppositions.
#5 Shimron Hetmyer
The 22-year-old batsman is already touted as a next big thing in West Indies cricket. Before becoming part of the IPL auction, Hetmyer earned his place in the West Indies team. He led their U-19 team to their first-ever U19 World Cup title in 2016 and that brought him in the limelight.
There was a lot of buzz before the auctions as to which franchise will purchase Hetmyer and now he has been roped in by Kohli-led RCB for the 12th edition of IPL. RCB bought Hetmyer for ₹ 4.20 crores and it seems he will likely be their first choice to open the innings for them along with Parthiv Patel.
Looking at his recent games, especially against India, the youngster is expected to play a major role for RCB and might turn their fate in the upcoming IPL season.