When a franchise busies itself at a mini-auction of the Indian Premier League (IPL), it must ask the question: “How much did we mess up in the earlier auction for us to ring in so many changes now?”
Sunrisers Hyderabad Team owners, staff and other officials during the IPL 2023 Auction at the Grand Hyatt hotel, in Kochi on Friday. (Indian Premier League twitter)
That’s the situation Sunrisers Hyderabad found themselves in on Friday. Knowing that they had botched up their picks ahead of the 2022 season, resulting in an eighth-place finish for the 2016 champions, they released 12 players going into the mini-auction in Kochi. It meant that they had a purse of ₹42.25 crore — the highest among 10 franchises — and they utilised most of the money to try and plug the gaps for the upcoming season. They did not splurge the record sum that Punjab Kings did for Sam Curran ( ₹18.5 crore), Mumbai Indians for Cameron Green ( ₹17.5 crore) and Chennai Super Kings for Ben Stokes ( ₹16.25 crore), but they should be satisfied with their picks.
Their biggest acquisition is England batter Harry Brook for ₹13.25 crore. Having released Kane Williamson and Nicholas Pooran, both of whom did not justify their hefty price tag of ₹14 crore and ₹10.75 crore respectively, they will be hoping that Brook steps in seamlessly. The signs are promising from a 23-year-old who has a strike rate of 148.38 in 99 T20s. Though he hasn’t played in India, his sublime showing in the recent Test series in Pakistan — Brook slammed three consecutive tons — suggests that he doesn’t have any perceptible weakness against spin.
In Mayank Agarwal, who was let go by Punjab, Sunrisers have made another smart acquisition for ₹8.25 crore. While Agarwal had a below-par season in 2022, he was one of the more consistent Indian openers in 2020 and 2021, averaging close to 40 and striking at over 140 in both editions. He will also be eager to prove a point to Punjab, who did show interest in getting him back on Friday. Agarwal could be a captaincy candidate for Sunrisers given that he has been at the helm at Punjab.
Sunrisers also made one of the steals of the day by getting England leggie Adil Rashid at his base price of ₹2 crore. Rashid, who was one of the stars of England’s T20 World Cup triumph, is likely to occupy the role of lead spinner, a department where SRH were considerably weakened after Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan moved to Gujarat Titans last season. Their uncompromising approach in the auction was evident, getting 12 of the 13 players that they bid for.
The other big spenders in the mini-auction were Mumbai Indians ( ₹20.5 crore), Punjab Kings ( ₹20 crore), Lucknow Super Giants ( ₹19.8 crore) and Chennai Super Kings ( ₹18.95 crore). While Lucknow ended the season in fourth position, the rest of these teams had finished in the bottom half of the table. It was inevitable then that they would splurge to fix cracks that had appeared last season.
Mumbai and Chennai, the two best IPL teams over the years, had an added layer of concern: finding replacements for the now-retired Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo respectively. That is why Mumbai went all out for 23-year-old Green and CSK likewise for Stokes. Out of the ₹20.5 crore that MI spent on Friday, ₹17.5 crore was spent on Green.
While both Green and Stokes are matchwinners, spending so much on a player or two restricts a team’s ability to add depth to its roster. Mumbai's only other notable addition was pacer Jhye Richardson for ₹1.5 crore.
Like always, Punjab kept themselves busy through the day. Looking beyond left-arm pacer Curran’s acquisition, Punjab will be disappointed that they didn’t get many of the players they were eyeing. The most glaring area is at the top of the order, where they don’t have a suitable candidate to partner skipper Shikhar Dhawan. That Punjab had ₹12.2 crore left unused is an apt indicator of their moderate showing.
The auction was a mixed bag for Lucknow too. Paying ₹16 crore for West Indian wicketkeeper-bat Nicholas Pooran seems to be a bit too much given his underwhelming returns for Sunrisers in 2022, the aggressive bidding borne out of their desperation to bolster the middle-order. If Pooran clicks, he will win a few games off his bat. Their decision to release all-rounder Jason Holder before the auction also seems dicey now. They tried for Curran and Stokes but couldn’t get either.
The other teams were relatively quiet. While defending champions Gujarat Titans spent ₹14.8 crore on Friday, it was largely about making small changes and getting in suitable back-ups. Their most notable buy — Shivam Mavi for ₹6 crore — is unlikely to find a place in the starting 11 at the beginning of the season. Runners-up Rajasthan Royals and third-placed Royal Challengers Bangalore spent less than ₹10 crore each. Having finished fifth, the most Delhi spent on one player was ₹5.5 crore on Bengal seamer Mukesh Kumar.
More activity may have been expected from Kolkata Knight Riders given their seventh-place finish last year, but budget constraints — they just had ₹7.05 crore remaining before the auction — did not allow them to find high-profile reinforcements. The most they shelled was ₹1.5 crore to get all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan at his base price.
Vivek Krishnan is a sports journalist who enjoys covering cricket and football among other disciplines. He wanted to be a cricketer himself but has gladly settled for watching and writing on different sports.Read More
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