Last Updated on 5 years by Charbel Coorey
8 IPL Auction Buys that could Prove to be Masterstrokes in 2020 | Which Auction Buy will be the best in the Indian Premier League in 2020?
The Indian Premier League’s much-awaited start is upon us as the Mumbai Indians lock horns with the Chennai Super Kings in the opening encounter in Abu Dhabi.
But, the auction of the lucrative T20 league took place way back in December last year in Kolkata. All teams went into the auction with a precise plan and bought the players according to the players they released or the weakness of the franchise. Along with the auction, the teams did a lot of activity in the trade window as well with players swapping teams according to their particular needs
We take a look at the one auction or trade buy from each team to watch out for over the course of the next couple of months in the IPL 2020.
1. Trent Boult – Mumbai Indians
The Mumbai Indians have always liked to have some variety in their bowling attack. They released three left-arm pacers in the squad, Jason Behrendorff, Beuran Hendricks and Barinder Sran and traded in Trent Boult from the Delhi Capitals.
In the absence of Malinga, who is the leading wicket-taker in IPL history, Trent Boult is one of the contenders to start in the MI Playing XI. Malinga was the second-highest leading wicket-taker for MI in IPL 2019 with 14 wickets and bowled the final over of the final last year, successfully defending two runs off the last ball.
Boult will face stiff competition for a spot in the XI, with Mitchell McClenaghan, Nathan Coulter-Nile and James Pattinson also in the running. Considering MI will play two overseas bowlers, Boult has a fair chance of being regular as he bowls most of his overs in the powerplay and that will help MI reserving Bumrah’s overs for the latter part of the inning. Mitchell McClenaghan is another leading option as he may be used as a left-hander with his pinch-hitting skills.
MI has a history of playing two overseas pacers in the recent past. But, with this year’s pitches expected to be slow, it will be interesting to see whether they opt for two overseas pacers or a solitary pacer and give themselves the luxury of a spin option, which may lessen Boult’s chances of regularly playing in the XI.
2. Chris Morris – Royal Challengers Bangalore
Every year, the Royal Challengers Bangalore have at least one buy from the auction that grabs eyeballs and this year is no different. This year the franchise bagged pacer Chris Morris for whopping 10 crores. It is evident that they have bought Morris to solve their death over issues as they were the worst performing bowling side in the last season.
Morris had an economy rate of 8.22 in the death overs and RCB will hope that he replicates similar kind of performances in the upcoming season and solves their long standing death bowling issues.
3. Sam Curran – Chennai Super Kings
In a team which is called the Dad’s Army, a 21 year old like Sam Curran does look odd. But among the few players CSK bought at the auction, Curran is the most exciting buy.
Last season, the allrounder plied his trade for the Kings XI Punjab and even bagged a hattrick against DC. Overall, he bowled at an economy rate of 9.7 and picked 10 wickets but CSK will hope that his performance is better in the upcoming season.
With Suresh Raina pulling out of the season due to personal issues, MS Dhoni may well use him up the order to try the Righty-Lefty combination. The left handed batsman has scored 250 runs whenever he has batted in the top 3 at an SR of just over 250. In nin3 such occassions, he has batted for 30+ runs in four of them. It will be interesting to see how CSK uses him.
4. Fabian Allen – Sunrisers Hyderabad
Fabian Allen’s name has been doing the rounds as one of the uprising stars in the Carribean for a while now. Since 2019, Allen has scored 250 runs in 17 innings, striking at 163. In addition to this, he has picked seven wickets at an economy rate of 7.45 but he has bowled sporadically in these matches.
With Bairstow, Warner, Rashid, Nabi already in the ranks, it is unlikely that Fabian Allen will start but with his powerhitting skills and left arm spin option he provides, Allen will definitely be a player to watch out for as the tournament progresses.
5. Glenn Maxwell – Kings XI Punjab
One player who will be in the reckoning with the tournament scheduled to happen in the UAE is Glenn Maxwell. Last time, the IPL was held in the country, the Aussie scored 300 runs in five matches at an SR of 201.
Like Allen, KXIP too has a lot of alternatives to play ahead of Maxwell in the XI but after splurging 10.75 crores on him, it will be unlikely that Kings XI will bench him. In the last two seasons, KXIP has been really poor in the middle order and Maxwell, if in form, can be the saviour for the team.
6. Pat Cummins – Kolkata Knight Riders
One auction buy which will be the most interesting to watch out for and expectedly so will be Pat Cummins. KKR bought Cummins for 15.5 crores and he was the costliest buy of this season, and the second-costliest ever.
KKR have been poor in the pacer’s department and Cummins addition will only make them better. To complement Cummins, he most probably have two of Mavi, Krishna, Nagarkoti and Ferguson which will be potentially be one of the best bowling attack in the eight-team league.
7. Shimron Hetmyer – Delhi Capitals
Shimron Hetmyer was bought by Delhi Capitals as a replacement for Colin Ingram who was DC’s No. 5 last season.
Hetmyer had a horrid season with RCB last season with 90 runs in five matches. 74 of them came in one game against SRH, which was a dead rubber as the team had already been knocked out of the tournament. Hetmyer isn’t the one who has to take all the blame as the RCB management played him at four different positions in five matches.
At DC, with Pant, Dhawan and Iyer in the top four it will be a great treat for the fans if Hetmyer plays at five. The Capitals can even consider the option of playing Hetmyer at three and Iyer at four, with Pant finishing at five.
8. Robin Uthappa – Rajasthan Royals
Robin Uthappa, a certified IPL legend will be out in Rajasthan Royals colours in this year’s edition. After a poor season with KKR last season, where he scored 282 runs in 12 matches at a strike rate of just 115, the 2014 Orange Cap winner was released by the franchise.
The Royals bought him for 3 crores in the auction. In an RR line-up with a relatively inexperienced Indian contingent after the departure of Rahane, Uthappa along with Samson will be key to their fortunes. Steve Smith the captain will hope that Uthappa plays like he did in his years for KKR.
Written by Sarthak Karkhanis. Follow Sarthak on Twitter today.
