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Cricket News: 4 overseas all-rounders who could land big deals at the IPL Mega Auction | IPL Mega Auction 2022: 4 possible overseas all-rounders
The world’s most luxurious T20 league, the IPL, is fast approaching. We are just days away from the Mega Auction, which is definitely going to be enthralling.
Hundreds of outstanding cricketers will be up for the grabs and it will be super exciting to watch the new shapes the teams take.
As a matter of slight concern, a few big names won’t be available in the auction among which Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes and Sam Curran are going to be huge misses.
Every T20 side loves to have a seam-bowling all-rounder who can score some quick runs and contribute with the ball as well. Moreover, there are very few domestic choices available in this particular category and hence the demand of overseas all-rounders is usually immense in the auction table. Let’s see who could be the front runners in this race.
1. Odean Smith
The dynamic all-rounder from West Indies has impressed everyone with his charismatic hitting down the order and useful exploits with the ball. In the CPL 2021, Smith was the second highest wicket taker with 18 wickets from 11 matches at a very good average of 14.94 and a superb strike rate of 11.83. He also has a tremendous strike rate of 163.3 in his brief T20I career so far. As far as talent is concerned, he definitely looks promising and I believe several IPL teams must be having eyes on him.
2. David Willey
The experienced English all-rounder could probably be the most ideal replacement for Sam Curran. Willey can be very useful with the new ball as he gets appreciable movement in the air. Added to that, he brings the variety in the bowling unit being a left armer.
Also, he is a brilliant hitter of the cricket ball down the order. Statistically, Willey has picked 191 wickets in 196 T20s at an economy of 7.86. His batting average of 23.8 and strike rate of 140.5 suggest that he can be a decent option down the order. He has played two IPL games in his career and it is certainly expected that he might make a return to the league this time.
3. David Wiese
The former South African allrounder currently represents Namibia in international cricket, and he had an excellent 2021 T20 World Cup campaign.
He is aged 36, but his performances have been outstanding for quite a while now. The seasoned campaigner has scored 3105 T20 runs from 274 games at a very good strike rate of 141.8 and has picked 215 wickets at an economy of 7.89.
In the T20 World Cup, Wiese was one of the main reasons behind Namibia’s impressive performance as he scored 227 runs at an average of more than 45 and a strike rate of 127.53, which was decent enough on those slow tracks of UAE. He also picked six wickets at an economy of 7.43.
In his IPL career, Wiese has represented RCB with decent success. It will be interesting to see how he does in the current PSL. If he impresses with his performance in PSL, he certainly can make a comeback into the IPL.
4. Romario Shepherd
Just like Odean Smith, Romario Shepherd is another strong all-rounder from the Caribbean who can smack the ball at will and provide a decent bowling option.
Shepherd has taken 49 wickets in 41 T20s at an average of 20.8. He has also scored 298 runs batting down the order at an average of 27.1 and a terrific strike rate of 161.1. He was the joint second highest wicket taker with Odean Smith in the CPL and had a strike rate of almost 166 in the league. Therefore, he is definitely one of those names the IPL teams can seriously look up to.
These are my four overseas seam bowling allrounders apart from players like Bravo, Holder and Marsh who might get an IPL contract in the IPL mega auction. Have your say!
Written by Debashish Sarangi. Follow Debashish on Twitter today
