IPL Mega Auction: 3 spinners who could start a bidding war
The eight existing IPL franchises have made their decision as far as retaining and releasing players are concerned. The big names that have been released include KL Rahul, Rashid Khan and Hardik Pandya.
All other released players will now be in the pool from which the two new IPL teams, Ahmedabad and Lucknow, will be able to pick three players each (two Indians, one overseas).
The big Indian players that include Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja and Rishabh Pant were retained by their respective teams while a number of big guns were released which will make the upcoming IPL mega auction an interesting affair.
Here in this article, we take a look at three spinners who can start a bidding war at the upcoming IPL mega auctions:
1.) Rashid Khan
Sunrisers Hyderabad have released Rashid Khan, which is one of the hardest decisions they have had to make since Rashid is one of the leading T20 bowlers. It was a tough negotiation for the franchise.
SRH may not have been able to hold on to Rashid, but they will still hope to get him back at the auction if the two new teams in Lucknow and Ahmedabad do not get a hold of him.
SRH first bought Rashid in 2017 for Rs 4 crore and then got him back in the 2018 mega auction using the RTM card. But it is expected that the spinner will get a bumper deal at the IPL auction.
2.) Yuzvendra Chahal
Royal Challengers Bangalore opted to retain Virat Kohli and Mohammad Siraj as the two Indian players. But the decision not to hold on to Yuzvendra Chahal is surprising. The leg-spinner has been one of their biggest match-winners over the years and he will now go into auction as one of the best spinners in the format.
He has already said that he wants to play under MS Dhoni and if CSK do go after him, we could see another bidding war if the RCB want to get him back in their ranks. This will happen if the two new franchises do not want to avail his services, which seems highly unlikely.
Chahal can expect a bumper deal and we could possibly see him playing for a new side.
3.) Ravi Bishnoi
Another leggie who could be a hot property ahead of the next auction is Ravi Bishnoi. It is slightly surprising that the Punjab Kings did not hold on to him considering he is a raw talent and was one of their consistent performers in the last two seasons.
If Ahmedabad and Lucknow do not sign the young man, we could see a bidding war considering the importance of leg-spinners in any IPL franchise. Bishnoi has the skills and variations to trouble even the best batters and several teams would want him in their ranks to groom him further and invest in this young talent.
The next season of the IPL will be played in India and this is where Bishnoi can really come into his own!