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Indian Premier League Auction 2021 Review: Was Maxwell Overpriced & Alex Hales Unlucky?

Feb 21, 2021 | Previews and Reviews

Indian Premier League Auction 2021 – It is time for yet another iteration of the IPL.

The IPL held just last September provided joy to many amidst the pandemic, provided several life lessons, and had its share of Super Overs. Now, in the final season before the overhaul and big auction (may expand to 9 or 10 teams in 2022), a short auction was held last week.

The auction had its moments—Chris Morris, the most expensive player EVER, RCB splurging on lower order allrounders, and Sunrisers just present for the participation points (only bought 3 players).

Here is our review of Indian Premier League Auction 2021: The winners, the losers, early predictions, and expected starting XIs.

Also Read: Top 75 Indian Players: Depth of Indian Cricket, Everything You Need To Know About the PSL Quickly

IPL Auction 2021: Players Sold By Country

Here is a quick review of all the international players sold by country.

  • Afghanistan (Afg): Mujeeb Ur Rahman
  • Australia (Aus): Steven Smith, Ben Cutting, Glenn Maxwell, Dan Christan, Riley Meredith, Nathan Coulter Nile, Jhye Richardson, Moises Henriques
  • Bangladesh (Ban): Shakib Al Hasan, Mustafizur Rahman
  • England (Eng): Moeen Ali, Tom Curran, Sam Billings, Dawid Malan, Liam Livingstone
  • New Zealand (NZ): Kyle Jamieson, Adam Milne, Jimmy Neesham
  • South Africa (SA): Chris Morris, Marco Jansen
  • West Indies (WI): Fabian Allen

Australia were the big gainers with 8 picks (even though the likes of Aaron Finch and Marcus Labuschagne did not find a team), while Sri Lanka had 0 picks. It seems that the era of West Indies T20 freelance monopoly is coming to an end. England is snatching this tag given their marvelous limited overs depth.

Indian Premier League Auction 2021: Auction Highlights, Starting XI, and Early Predictions

  • *Note: The prices are in Indian Rupees as in the auction (Conversion: $1 U.S. dollar = 73 Rupees)
  • *Teams highlighted in their respective jersey colors

Chennai Super Kings (CSK)

Auction Highlights

  • Indian Internationals: Cheteshwar Pujara (50 lac)
  • Indian Uncapped: Krishnappa Gowtham (9.25 crore), Harishankar Reddy (20 lac), Bhagath Verma (20 lac), C Hari Nishanth (20 lac)
  • Foreign Recruits: Moeen Ali – Eng (7 crore)

Verdict: Pujara finally gets an IPL deal while Gowtham & Moeen Ali can add the much needed zeal in the CSK lineup. Balanced bowling line up, local Chennai lads in the squad who lifted the Syed Mustaq Ali Trophy, and experience in the batting. Final round for Dhoni, Bravo, Uthappa, and Tahir?

Early Prediction: Barely miss the top 4 due to net run rate (The irony)

Expected Starting XI

1. Faf Du Plessis, 2. Ambati Rayudu, 3. Suresh Raina, 4. Ruturaj Gaikwad/Robin Uthappa, 5. MS Dhoni (C/WK), 6. Ravindra Jadeja, 7. Moeen Ali/Sam Curran, 8. Deepak Chahar, 9. Shardul Thakur/ K Gowtham, 10. Imran Tahir, 11. Josh Hazlewood

Squad: Dwayne Bravo, Lungi Ngidi, Mitchell Santner, R Sai Kishore, Cheteshwar Pujara, Narayan Jagadeesan, Karn Sharma, KM Asif, C Hari Nishanth, Harisankar Reddy, K Bhagath Varma

Delhi Capitals (DC)

Auction Highlights

  • Indian Internationals: Umesh Yadav (1 crore)
  • Indian Uncapped: Ripal Patel (20 lac), Vishnu Vinod (20 lac), Lukman Meriwala (20 lac), M Siddharth (20 lac)
  • Foreign Recruits: Steven Smith – Aus (2.2 crore), Tom Curran (5.25 crore), Sam Billings (2 crore) – Eng

Verdict: Good buys for the reserves with Umesh, Steve Smith, Tom Curran, and Billings (Smith most likely to warm the bench). Settled XI, great balance, but can they capture the big moments and maintain momentum?

Early Prediction: The 2020 finalists go one step further? Champions?

Expected Starting XI

  1. Shikhar Dhawan, 2. Prithvi Shaw, 3. Shimron Hetmyer, 4, Shreyar Iyer (C), 5. Rishabh Pant (WK), 6. Marcus Stoinis, 7. Axar Patel, 8. Ravichandran Ashwin, 9. Kagiso Rabada, 10. Anrich Nortje, 11. Amit Mishra/Ishant Sharma/Umesh Yadav

Squad: Ajinkya Rahane, Steven Smith, Sam Billings (WK), Tom Curran, Chris Woakes, Avesh Khan, Lukman Meriwala, Lalit Yadav, Manimaran Siddharth, Praveen Dubey, Ripal Patel, Vishnu Vinod (WK)

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)

Auction Highlights

  • Indian Internationals: Karun Nair (50 lac), Harbhajan Singh (2 crore), Pawan Negi (50 lac – 1 T20I)
  • Indian Uncapped: Sheldon Jackson (20 lac), Vaibhav Arora (20 lac), Venkatesh Iyer (20 lac)
  • Foreign Recruits: Shakib Al Hasan – Ban (3.2 crore), Ben Cutting – Aus (75 lac)

Verdict: Shakib & Ben Cutting big steals for KKR, but not too sure about Harbhajan Singh & Pawan Negi? Envious finishing prowess, inexperienced Indian fast bowlers the concern, but the real question is—will Brendon McCullum’s notes produce the correct line-up?

Early Prediction: Top 4 Finish

Expected Starting XI

  1. Shubman Gill, 2. Rahul Tripathi/Karun Nair, 3. Nitish Rana, 4. Shakib Al Hasan, 5. Dinesh Karthik (WK), 6. Eoin Morgan (C), 7. Andre Russell/ Ben Cutting, 8. Pat Cummins/ Lockie Ferguson, 9. Kamlesh Nagarkoti/Pawan Negi, 10.Varun Chakravarthy, 11. Prasidh Krishna/Kuldeep Yadav

Squad: Shivam Mavi, Sunil Narine, Tim Seifert (WK), Harbhajan Singh, Rinku Singh, Sandeep Warrier, Sheldon Jackson, Vaibhav Arora, Venkatesh Iyer

Mumbai Indians (MI)

Auction Highlights

  • Indian Internationals: Piyush Chawla (2.4 crore)
  • Indian Uncapped: Yudhvir Singh (20 lac), Arjun Tendulkar (20 lac)
  • Foreign Recruits: Adam Milne (3.2 crore), Jimmy Neesham (50 lac) – NZ, Nathan Coulter-Nile (5 crore), Marco Jansen (20 lac) – SA

Verdict: Backups in the form of Chawla, Milne, Neesham & Zaheer Khan the mastermind behind the 20 year old left arm pacer, Marco Jansen. IPL 2021 is just an exercise to see how many different ways Mumbai Indians can come with to win the trophy.

Early Prediction: Just to change things a bit, they fail to qualify for the Top 4. Champions in the reverse direction (Who am I kidding?)

Expected Starting XI

  1. Rohit Sharma (C), 2. Quinton de Kock (WK), 3. Ishan Kishan (WK), 4. Suryakumar Yadav, 5. Kieron Pollard, 6. Krunal Pandya, 7. Hardik Pandya, 8. Rahul Chahar, 9. Trent Boult, 10. Jasprit Bumrah, 11. Adam Milne/ Nathan Coulter-Nile

Squad: Dhawal Kulkarni, Saurabh Tiwary, Jimmy Neesham, Jayant Yadav, Aditya Tare (WK), Chris Lynn, Anmolpreet Singh, Anukul Roy, Arjun Tendulkar, Marco Jansen, Mohsin Khan, Yudhvir Singh Charak

Punjab Kings (PBKS)

Auction Highlights

  • Indian Internationals:
  • Indian Uncapped: Shahrukh Khan (5.25 crore), KC Cariappa (20 lac), Jalaj Saxena (30 lac), Utkarsh Singh (20 lac), Saurabh Kumar (20 lac)
  • Foreign Recruits: Jhye Richardson – Aus (14 crore), Riley Meredith – Aus (8 crore), Dawid Malan – Eng (1.5 crore), Moises Henriques – Aus (4.2 crore), Fabian Allen – WI (75 lac)

Verdict: Dawid Malan, current word’s best T20 batsman, & Fabian Allen were quite the deal. Looking forward to Shahrukh Khan, the finisher, and hopefully Jalaj Saxena, the first class veteran. Definite contenders this time around. The change of name to PBKS to bring the luck?

Early Prediction: Top 4 Finish

Expected Starting XI

  1. KL Rahul (C/WK), 2. Mayank Agarwal, 3. Dawid Malan/Chris Gayle, 4. Nicholas Pooran, 5. Deepak Hooda, 6. Shahrukh Khan, 7. Fabian Allen/ Moises Henriques, 8. Arshdeep Singh, 9. Chris Jordan/ Jhye Richardson, 10. Mohammad Shami, 11. Ravi Bishnoi

Squad: Murugan Ashwin, Prabhsimran Singh, Riley Meredith, Ishan Porel, Sarfaraz Khan (WK), Jalaj Saxena, Harpreet Brar, Darshan Nalkande, Saurabh Kumar, Utkarsh Singh

Rajasthan Royals (RR)

Auction Highlights

  • Indian Internationals: Shivam Dube (4.4 crore)
  • Indian Uncapped: Chetan Sakariya (1.2 crore), Kuldip Yadav (20 lac), Akash Singh (20 lac)
  • Foreign Recruits: Chris Morris – SA (16.25 crore), Mustafizur Rahman – Ban (1 crore), Liam Livingstone (75 lac)

Verdict: All weak points from IPL 2020 fixed. With Shivam Dube and Chris Morris, the double Rs may not have to rely on Tewatia magic alone. The foreign 4 pick themselves, but Miller, Livingstone, the Fizz, and Andrew Tye are T20 specialists themselves.

Early Prediction: Top 4 Finish…in the first half. Then momentum is lost, and they end up in the bottom two. The usual.

Expected Starting XI

  1. Jos Buttler, 2. Yashasvi Jaiswal/ Manan Vohra, 3. Sanju Samson (C/WK), 4. Shivam Dube, 5. Ben Stokes, 6. Rahul Tewatia, 7. Chris Morris, 8. Jofra Archer, 9. Shreyas Gopal, 10. Kartik Tyagi, 11. Mayank Markande/Jaydev Unadkat

Squad: Riyan Parag, David Miller, Liam Livingstone, Mustafizur Rahman, Andrew Tye, KC Cariappa, Anuj Rawat, Chetan Sakariya,

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB)

Auction Highlights

  • Indian Internationals:
  • Indian Uncapped: KS Bharat – WK (20 lac), Sachin Baby (20 lac), Rajit Patidar (20 lac), Mohammed Azharuddeen (20 lac), Suyash Prabhudessai (20 lac)
  • Foreign Recruits: Kyle Jamieson – NZ (15 crore), Glenn Maxwell – Aus (14.25 crore), Daniel Christian – Aus (4.8 crore)

Verdict: They won the Indian Premier League 2021 Auction battle—Maxwell, Kyle Jamieson, & Dan Christian. Finishing problems fixed. With basically the entire Indian bowling lineup returning from Australia’s success, promising uncapped openers, & the golden touch of Christian, RCB may finally cross the line.

Early Prediction: Finalists.

Expected Starting XI

1. Mohammed Azharudeen, 2. Devdutt Padikkal, 3. Virat Kohli (C), 4. AB de Villiers (WK), 5. Glenn Maxwell, 6. Daniel Christian, 7. Washington Sundar, 8. Kyle Jamieson/Daniel Sams, 9. Mohammed Siraj, 10. Navdeep Saini, 11. Yuzvendra Chahal

Squad: Harshal Patel, Joshua Phillippe (WK), Kane Richardson, Sachin Baby, Shahbaz Ahmed, KS Bharat (WK), Pavan Deshpande, Rajat Patidar, Suyash Prabhudessai

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH)

Auction Highlights

  • Indian Internationals: Kedar Jadhav (2 crore)
  • Indian Uncapped: Jagadeesha Suchith (30 lac)
  • Foreign Recruits: Mujeeb Ur Rahman (1.5 crore) – Afg

Verdict: Kedhar Jadhav is a good backup choice for Vijay Shankar in case of injuries & Nabi-Rashid-Mujeeb together in Hyderabad, wow! They have the options, but can they figure their best XI in time?

Early Prediction: SRH lose several matches at the start, out of contention early, but will break the dreams of the teams in the middle at the backend of the tournament. Bottom 4 Finish.

Expected Starting XI

  1. David Warner (C), 2. Wriddhiman Saha (WK), 3. Manish Pandey, 4. Kane Williamson, 5. Vijay Shankar/Kedar Jadhav, 6. Priyam Garg/Abdul Samad, 7. Rashid Khan, 8. Jason Holder/Mohammad Nabi/ Mujeeb-Ur-Rahman, 9. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10. T Natarajan, 11. Sandeep Sharma

Squad: Khaleel Ahmed, Siddharth Kaul, Mitchell Marsh, Shahbaz Nadeem, Shrevats Goswami (WK), Abhishek Sharma, Basil Tamphi, Jagadeesha Suchith, Virat Singh

The Broken Dream: Players That Went Unsold

Since this is the final IPL before the big auction in 2022, this small auction was expected to have several players unsold.

Broken Dreams of IPL 2021 Auctions:

  • Hanuma Vihari—hero of Sydney. Unpicked in the first couple of rounds, his name was called again for the final auction round. Still unsold. Insult to injury. Literally. (The only prominent currently in the Indian setup to not have a deal since Pujara was picked).
  • Aaron Finch—one of the best T20I players of all-time just could not manage a consistent IPL season.
  • Shaun Marsh, an end of an era. Along with Shane Watson, was the bright overseas star. KXIP stalwart in the early years, Orange Cap of IPL 2008, but could not buy any buyers.
  • Alex Hales. Enough said.

IPL Auction 2021: Entire Unsold List

Foreign: Alex Hales, Jason Roy, Evin Lewis, Aaron Finch, Glenn Phillips, Alex Carey, Kusal Perera, Sheldon Cottrell, Adil Rashid, Ish Sodhi, Qais Ahmad, Sandeep Lamichhane, Rovman Powell, Shaun Marsh, Corey Anderson, Devon Conway, Darren Bravo, Rassie van der Dussen, Martin Guptill, Marnus Labuschagne, Oshane Thomas, Billy Stanlake, Mitchell McClenaghan, Jason Behrendorff, Naveen Ul Haq, Ben Dwarshuis, Thisara Perera, Ben McDermott, Matthew Wade, Sean Abbott, Josh Inglish, Scott Kuggeleijn, Wayne Parnell, Reece Topley, Chris Green, Isuru Udana, George Linda, Jack Wildermuth, Gerald Coetzee, Tim David

Indian Internationals: Hanuma Vihari, Rahul Sharma, Gurkeerat Singh, Varun Aaron, Mohit Sharma

Indian Uncapped: Himanshu Rana, Gahlaut Singh, Atit Sheth, Himmat Singh, Vishnu Solanki, Ayush Badoni, Vivek Singh, Avi Barot, Kedhar Devdhar, Ankit Rajpoot, Mujtaba Yousuf, Kuldeep Sen, Tushar Deshpande, Karanveer Singh, Sudhesan Midhun, Tejas Baroka, Kaan Sharma, KL Shrijith, G Periyasamy, Siddhesh Lad, Tajinder Singh, Prerak Mankad, Simarjeet Singh, Chaitanya Bishnoi, Ajay Dev Goud, Harsh Tyagi, Pratyush Singh

Your Opinion Matters: Was Maxwell Overpriced & Hales Unlucky?

Let us know what you thought about the auction by commenting here below:

  1. Was Glenn Maxwell overpriced? Is 2021 the year or are we still carrying IPL 2014 nostalgia?
  2. The likes of Adil Rashid and Alex Hales do not find a team. First team England ditch Hales & now after top scoring in the BBL, no buyers. Contender for the unluckiest player of All-Time?
  3. Steal of the Auction: Shakib Al Hasan, Dawid Malan, Fabian Allen, or Ben Cutting?
  4. KKR’s buy of Harbhajan Singh? Why?

Here were my biggest winners and losers from Indian Premier League 2021 Auction. What did you think? What are YOUR predictions? Comment Below!

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Copyright (2021: 2/21/2021)– @Nitesh Mathur, aka Nit-X – bcd@brokokencricketdreams.com

Sources: Cricinfo

Nitesh Mathur

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