IPL 2022 Auction Highlights: Ishan Kishan, Deepak Chahar, Shreyas Iyer strike it rich; Avesh Khan enters 10 cr club

Australia -47

West Indies- 34

South Africa- 33

England- 24

New Zealand- 34

Sri Lanka- 23

Afghanistan- 17

Ireland- 5

Bangladesh -5

Namibia-3

Scotland – 2

Zimbabwe- 1

Nepal- 1

USA -1 

Being the most lucrative cricket league in the world, the IPL attracts numerous foreign stars each season. This time around, as we discussed earlier, a total of 220 overseas players will be going under the hammer. Let’s take a look at the country-wise breakdown.

Here are how many more overseas players each team can buy over the course of the mega auctions this weekend:

Mumbai Indians- 7 

Chennai Super Kings- 7

Rajasthan Royals- 7

Punjab Kings- 8

Sunrisers Hyderabad- 7

Kolkata Knight Riders- 6

Delhi Capitals- 7

Royal Challengers Bangalore- 7 

Lucknow Super Giants- 7 

Gujarat Titans- 7

Following the retentions and picks, here are how many more players each team can buy over the course of the mega auctions this weekend:

Mumbai Indians- 21

Chennai Super Kings- 21 

Rajasthan Royals- 22

Punjab Kings- 23

Sunrisers Hyderabad-22

Kolkata Knight Riders- 21

Delhi Capitals- 21

Royal Challengers Bangalore- 22

Lucknow Super Giants- 22

Gujarat Titans- 22

KKR have struggled with their team combinations in the past. Can they nail it this time?

All the base price brackets and the total number of players in them are as follows:

INR 20 lakh- 335 players

INR 30 lakh- 9 players

INR 40 lakh- 16 players

INR 50 lakh- 102 players

INR 75 lakh- 24 players

INR 1 crore- 32 players

INR 1.5 crore- 21 players

INR 2 crore- 49 players

A total of 1,214 players registered for the mega auction but only the governing body shortlisted only 590 out of them. Each player has been placed in a base price category, with the lowest being INR 20 lakh and the highest being INR 2 crore.

The players are broadly divided into three categories, namely: Indian Uncapped, Indian capped, and overseas players. And of course, the bidding will happen in groups of their specialty, from wicketkeepers and batters to different types of bowlers and wicketkeepers.

Let me remind you that each team can have a maximum squad size of 25 players and a maximum of 8 overseas players.

The Ahmedabad-based franchise was bought for INR 5,625 crore by a British private equity and investment advisory firm named CVC Capital Partners. While Hardik Pandya was named captain, former India pacer Ashish Neha was announced as the head coach. 2011 ICC CWC winning coach Gary Kirsten has been brought on board as the batting coach and mentor. The franchise revealed its official name earlier in February and is yet to unveil the team logo

RSPG group, owned by business tycoon Sanjiv Goenka, bought the franchise for a whopping INR 7,090 crore. Their home base will be the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow, whose full name is the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium. The team is coached by Andy Flower and mentored by Gautam Gambhir

Let’s take you through some information about the two new teams entering the IPL ecosystem. In August 2021, the governing council of IPL invited tenders for the bidding of two new teams. A total of 22 companies registered but only 6 of them emerged as serious bidders. And eventually, we had two winners.

Mumbai Indians- INR 48 crore

Chennai Super Kings- INR 48 crore

Rajasthan Royals- INR 62 crore

Punjab Kings- INR 72 crore

Sunrisers Hyderabad-INR 68 crore

Kolkata Knight Riders- INR 48 crore

Delhi Capitals- INR 47.5 crore

Royal Challengers Bangalore- INR 57 crore

Lucknow Super Giants- INR 59 crore

Gujarat Titans- INR 52 crore

Each team is allowed to spend a maximum of INR 90 crore. Let’s take a look at how much each team is left with following their initial spendings

We are getting closer to the start by the minute. This is going to be a lot of fun

Their choice of players could also be termed as “Bold”, for they have gone with a batting all-rounder who hasn’t bowled at all for quite some time, a world-class spinner, and a young opener. Will they show of faith pay rich dividends?

Hardik Pandya ( ₹15 crore)

Rashid Khan ( ₹15 crore)

Shubman Gill ( ₹8 crore)

Just like RCB, the Lucknow franchise decided to pick one player belonging to each department. Most likely, they will assign Rahul the captaincy. But, you never know for sure.

KL Rahul ( ₹17 crore)

Marcus Stoinis ( ₹9.2 crore)

Ravi Bishnoi ( ₹4 crore)

The two new teams, based out of Ahmedabad and Lucknow, then picked three players each. Let’s take a look at who they were:

With Virat Kohli stepping down as captain and AB de Villiers retiring from all forms of cricket, RCB are on the lookout for a new skipper. While retaining players, their approach was to have one player in each department.

Virat Kohli ( ₹15 crore)

Glenn Maxwell ( ₹11 crore)

Mohammed Siraj ( ₹7 crore)

Shreyas Iyer missing from the list, despite having led the since Gautam Gambhir’s departure in 2019, meant that DC have decided to stick with Pant as captain. Their other retentions are:

Rishabh Pant ( ₹16 crore)

Axar Patel ( ₹9 crore)

Prithvi Shaw ( ₹7.5 crore)

Anrich Nortje ( ₹6.5 crore)

After a rocky last couple of years, all eyes will be on how KKR go about their business. Their team composition has often been the biggest reason behind their downfall. 

Andre Russell ( ₹12 crore)

Varun Chakaravarthy ( ₹8 crore)

Venkatesh Iyer ( ₹8 crore)

Sunil Narine ( ₹6 crore)

The 2016 champions left everyone shocked when Rashid Khan wasn’t spotted in the retentions list, especially after how efficient he has been for the side over the last couple of years. However, SRH did decide to include a young speedster in the list.

Kane Williamson ( ₹14 crore)

Abdul Samad ( ₹4 crore)

Umran Malik ( ₹4 crore)

KL Rahul, their former captain, decided to enter the auctions. As a result, PBKS opener Mayank Agarwal and a young pacer. 

Mayank Agarwal ( ₹12 crore)

Arshdeep Singh ( ₹4 crore)

The inaugural champions made it clear that they want to base their teams around two explosive wicketkeeper-batters and a young opener. RR retained the following:

Sanju Samson ( ₹14 crore)

Jos Buttler ( ₹10 crore)

Yashasvi Jaiswal ( ₹4 crore)

The defending champions, led by MS Dhoni, decided back to their young opener and surprisingly, did not persist with Faf du Plessis, at least immediately. If I were you, I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of CSK bidding for him. 

Ravindra Jadeja ( ₹16 crore)

MS Dhoni ( ₹12 crore)

Moeen Ali ( ₹8 crore)

Ruturaj Gaikwad ( ₹6 crore)