Five 2019 IPL Auction surprises… and five who missed out

The 2019 Indian Premier League auction saw quite a few unknown players go for a lot money, and some of the biggest names in T20 cricket go unsold. The Cricketer has brought together five of each...

Surprises

Sam Curran
7.2 crore (£800,000) to Kings XI Punjab

The young Surrey allrounder clearly did enough in the Test arena to show that they think he’s worth a punt. However, it is quite the sizeable punt that the Kings XI Punjab are taking here in making the Curran the most expensive foreign player at the auction.

His talent is unquestionable, but his output in T20 cricket over the past three years has been less than impressive. He sits at No.263 in the T20 Player Index and has not broken into the top 200 once throughout 2018.

Varun Chakravarthy
8.4 crore (£900,000) to Kings XI Punjab

Having listed himself at the lowest base price of 20 lacs (£22,000) at the start of the auction, 27-year-old Varun Chakravarthy will have been as surprised as anyone when he was bought for 42 times that value.

He has only played in nine professional white-ball matches, and though the 22 wickets he took at 16.68 are quite impressive, they do not translate to making him the one most expensive players at the auction…

Jaydev Unadkat
8.4 crore (£900,000) to Rajasthan Royals

We have already spoken about the strange case of Jaydev Unadkat, and why he was such an expensive purchase at the 2018 IPL auction. The fact that he went for so much money again after a really disappointing 2018 is even stranger.

The Indian bowler is at No.90 in the T20 Player Index, just one place above Paul Stirling and two places below Mitch McClenaghan. None of his stats from the past three years suggest a player worth the money spent on him, and it will be a surprise if he manages to justify the price tag this time around either.

Shivam Dube
5 crore (£600,000) to Royal Challengers Bangalore

Like Chakravarthy, Shivam Dube listed himself at the lowest base price of 20 lacs (£22,000), and now finds himself as one of the most expensive players bought at the auction after an intense bidding war.

Unlike Chakravarthy, the 25-year-old allrounder actually has some T20 pedigree, having played 13 matches. Though, ten wickets and not a single score of over 50 during that time hardly screams a player worth that much money.

Nicholas Pooran
4.2 crore (£450,000) to Kings XI Punjab

There is a theme in this list – it’s the Kings XI Punjab if you hadn’t noticed. For whatever reason they seem very keen on taking big risks on young players. Admittedly, Pooran is probably the smallest risk among the three on this list, but he is still a risk all the same.

Sitting at No.137 in the T20 Player Index after an impressive Caribbean Premier League, Pooran has scored just under 1,000 runs over the past three years, at a very good strike rate. However, he has a comparatively low win percentage, which he will be hoping increases during his time at the IPL.

^{(Left to right) Unadkat, Curran, Pooran}

Missed out

Brendon McCullum
Base pric - 2 crore

At 37, the former New Zealand captain might be getting on a bit, but he is still a fine T20 player. This will be the first time in the history of the IPL that McCullum does not feature, it is the end of an era.

The fears that McCullum may be on the way out are not unfounded, over the past 12 months he has dropped from No.30 in the T20 Player Index, to No.67. He has, however, scored the fourth-most runs in T20 cricket over the past three years.  

Dan Christian
Base pric - 1 crore

The fact that Dan Christian went unsold at the IPL auction is all the proof that was needed to show he is a thoroughly underrated player. Sam Curran may have youth on his side, but Christian is still a hell of a player.

He is at No.31 in the T20 Player Index because he is not only able to take a lot of wickets, but is also able to score a surprising number of runs at a very quick rate. He would have made any team he was part of better, and he should have been bought.

Chris Jordan
Base price - 1 crore

The fact that Jordan has gone unsold is a sign that the landscape of T20 cricket maybe changing. Whether they are changing too quickly remains to be seen. The England allrounder has long been a feature of most T20 leagues, and is still a very good player.

He is at No.54 in the T20 Player Index, a position that has remained relatively constant throughout 2018. He is in the top 10 wicket-takers over the past three years and is a proven good player.

Luke Ronchi
Bsae price - 75 lacs

What makes Ronchi’s absence more surprising than most of the other on this list is the fact that he is not on the wane at all. In October 2017 he was sat down at No.106 in the T20 Player Index, and in the space of just over 12 months has moved up to No.44.

He has performed consistently well over the past 12 months and would not have represented a large risk for the base price he listed himself at.

Fawad Ahmed
Base price - 50 lacs

The Australian leg-spinner is another player who may have not bee drafted because of their age, despite their performances suggesting they were worth a go, particularly when you consider the relatively low base price he set himself at.

Ahmed is by no means a world-beater, but he has just enjoyed a very strong 2018 which has seen him rise from No.360 to No.114 in the T20 Player Index. His performances have been strong, and much more warranting of a contract than some of the names who have been bought.

^{(Left to right) Christian, McCullum, Ronchi, Pooran, Ahmed}