IPL Auction: Five players to watch out for this weekend
The Indian Premier League (IPL) Auction goes down this weekend and there is some silly money floating around.
Here we look at five men who could have IPL franchises breaking the bank to sign them.
Eoin Morgan (England)
England’s World Cup-winning captain led the Kolkata Knight Riders to the final in 2021 but was later released by the franchise.
Morgan’s swashbuckling brand of cricket and sharp leadership skills have proven attractive to franchises across the globe.
He scored just 133 runs in 17 matches in the previous edition, but a lack of England stars such as Ben Stokes in the upcoming auctions might make the former KKR skipper a great pick. He has a base price of $200,000.
David Warner (Australia)
The brutal opener silenced critics with his role in Australia’s maiden T20 World Cup triumph following a poor IPL season with Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Warner, who led the side to their only IPL title in 2016, was removed as Hyderabad’s captain in the first leg of the pandemic-hit competition, later dropped from the team and finally released.
But the left-hand batsman, who has a base price of $267,000 is expected to trigger a bidding war.
Kagiso Rabada (South Africa)
The South African speed demon has been key to the Delhi Capitals’ success in the previous two seasons and was the leading bowler with 30 scalps in 2020 when they reached the final.
Rabada, 26, remains one of the few genuinely world-class pace bowlers in cricket and justfifies his base price of $267,000, while teams expected to shell out big bucks for him.
He worked up a fiery Delhi attack with fellow South African quick Anrich Nortje, who has been retained by the franchise, who might have to dig deep into their pockets to reunite the Proteas pair.
Jason Holder (West Indies)
The former West Indies captain has been in red-hot form with both bat and ball. The pace bowler claimed four wickets in four balls in his team’s stunning T20 series victory over England last month.
Holder also gave a good account of himself in the ODI series against India.
Holder, 30, who has a base price of $200,540, top-scored with 57 in his team’s opening ODI against India, albeit in a losing cause, and will be on the radar of the IPL teams to fill their all-rounder slot.
The 6-foot-6 Holder has had stints with Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata in the lucrative league, but the upcoming auction could finally be his big payday.
Shahrukh Khan (India)
Shahrukh Khan’s explosive batting talent is all set to make him the next India superstar.
The uncapped middle-order batsman, rocketed to prominence thanks to his Tamil Nadu T20 heroics. He has an impressive strike rate of over 136 in 50 T20 matches.
The 26-year-old was recently added to the Indian team for the West Indies series and could enter the IPL millionaire’s club this auction, before he even makes his India debut.
