Shreyas Iyer was expected to be one of the big draws at
the IPL 2022 mega auction – and he was – becoming the first to cross the INR 10 crore barrier, a fervent bidding war between a number of teams ending with the middle-order batter and potential captaincy candidate going to Kolkata Knight Riders for INR 12.25 crore (USD 1.6 million).
Punjab Kings, who started the auction with the biggest purse of the ten teams, splurged straightaway as the marquee players went under the hammer. They bought
Shikhar Dhawan and
Kagiso Rabada for INR 8.25 crore (USD 1.1 million) and INR 9.25 crore (USD 1.23 million) respectively. Delhi Capitals were excited bidders early on, but dropped out of the race for Dhawan and Rabada, as well as Iyer and
R Ashwin, all of whom were part of their roster till the last cycle.
In other early updates, Kolkata Knight Riders kept the paddle up for
Pat Cummins, buying back their pace spearhead for INR 7.25 crore (USD 966,000), while Ashwin was sold to Rajasthan Royals for INR 5 crore (USD 666,000), the team also fighting off the competition to get hold of
Trent Boult for INR 8 crore (USD 1 million).
Venky Mysore, the Knight Riders CEO, said that the franchise had expected to “go higher” to get hold of Cummins, and while he called Iyer a part of the team’s “very long term in terms of our thinking”, the captaincy question was understandably left alone. “That’s a decision the coach and the think tank will take,” he said on the official broadcast during a break in proceedings. “I think we need to just digest the activity of today and tomorrow and take stock. Between Cummins and Shreyas, we have got solid options. But the think tank will take the decision.”
Teams looking to bring back players they have had to let go was a theme early on. Mumbai Indians went after Trent Boult. Chennai Super Kings went after
Faf du Plessis. None of them got their man. The former South Africa captain eventually went to Royal Challengers Bangalore, their first acquisition of the day, for INR 7 crore (USD 933,000). Could he be their new captain, a position lying vacant after
Virat Kohli stepped down in 2021?
Kings bucked the trend and stayed away from the race to get hold of
Mohammed Shami, who became Gujarat Titans’ first buy at IPL auctions, for INR 6.25 crore (USD 833,000). Mumbai entered the fray late for
Quinton de Kock, but was the first buy of the auction for Lucknow Super Giants, the team getting the South African keeper-batter for a very decent INR 6.75 crore (USD 900,000). Capitals did eventually open their account, right at the end of the round of marquee players, getting hold of former Sunrisers Hyderabad captain
David Warner, who was a part of Delhi Daredevils once upon a time, for INR 6.25 crore (USD 833,000).
Sunrisers, in fact, didn’t even enter the contest for Warner, who led the team to the title in 2016 but fell out of favour with the team more recently, first sacked as the team’s captain and then dropped altogether in 2021.
From Kings’ point of view, they might have settled on their opening combination now, Dhawan joining
Mayank Agarwal, who had been retained by the franchise. Similarly, de Kock going to Super Giants, who already have
KL Rahul, settles their top two. Capitals are also in the same boat with Warner added to a roster that already contained
Prithvi Shaw.
More to follow…
All USD values are approximations where USD 1 = INR 75