IPL Auction 2016: 5 foreign players who could be bargain buys

Ahead of the ninth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the highly-awaited auction is scheduled to be held on February 6, 2016. This is the day that teams will be looking to make upgrades or additions and help their cause in trying to be crowned the IPL champions.Also read: IPL 2016: Teams and full players listRising Pune Super Giants and Gujarat Lions, the two new sides, will be the ones who will be making the highest number of buys as they look to add on to the five players they bought during the IPL draft. The rest of the teams will be looking to fill in the slots that were left by the players they released.After having taken a look at the Indian bargain buys, we take a look at overseas players who could end up as bargain buys in the forthcoming auction.Also read: IPL auctions 2016: Rating the squads for Indian Premier League 2016Here is the list of five foreign bargain buys:

#5 Seekkuge Prasanna

One of the bargain buys for the upcoming IPL will be the Sri Lankan all-rounder, Seekkuge Prasanna, who seems to have found his right role in the T20 format of late. Starting off mainly as a spin bowler, Prasanna has been batting up the order, as an opener, since the start of 2016.

Another feature about the 30-year-old is that he has the highest batting strike rate in T20s. In 66 T20 matches, Prasanna has scored 755 runs at an outstanding strike rate of 172.37.

His average of 18.41 might not seem too impressive, but since the start of 2015, Prasanna's batting has grown by leaps and bounds. In 26 innings, since January 2015, Prasanna has scored 493 runs at an average of 22.40 and a strike rate of 183.27.

With the ball, Prasanna has been quite impressive as in 59 innings he has 54 wickets to his name at an impressive average of 24.53 and a reasonable economy rate of 6.85.

The demands of cricket has increased multifold in the recent past, and the most valuable assets to any squad are all-rounders. An all-rounder with records like Prasanna's is bound to add value to any T20 side.