Five players to watch out for at the 2020 IPL Auction

It’s that time of the year. The time when cricket fans are bemused as to why an Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise has paid a fortune for a cricketer they’ve hardly heard of. While some players in the past have gone on to make it big, numerous others have failed to live up to their elaborate price tags.

The upcoming season’s IPL auction, scheduled for 19 December 2019, is once again expected to bring forward a few such cricketers. And here, we have a look at five players who might rake in the big bucks at the auction.

Yashasvi Jaiswal

Yashasvi Jaiswal is the latest in a long line of supreme batting talents that has emerged from Mumbai. Just 17, Jaiswal has already been tipped for big things. He caught the eye of cricket observers during the 2019-20 Vijay Hazare Trophy during which he plundered 564 runs in just six innings at an average of 112.8, including a majestic 203 off 154 balls against Jharkhand - thus becoming the youngest man to score a List A double hundred.

In the Youth ODI series against Afghanistan last month, he was the top run-scorer despite having played just two out of the five matches. In fact, in a series where batting wasn’t easy, he wasn’t dismissed in either innings while making 146 runs which included a century. His strike rate during the series was 132.72 which is another reason why teams are likely to bid big for him in the upcoming auction.

Rohan Kadam

In a way, Rohan Kadam was unlucky to have not played in the IPL last season. After all, he was the top run-scorer in the 2018-19 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) which was held at the start of the year. But the auction preceded India’s inter-state T20 tournament then and he was unsurprisingly unpicked as a result.

This time around, though, there is a good chance that the left-hander will be bought for a good amount after being an important component of Karnataka’s back-to-back triumphs in SMAT. While Kadam is predominantly an opener and had great success in that role during SMAT 2018-19, he showed that he is no mug down the order either, scoring a crucial 35 in this year’s final after coming into bat at number five.

R Sai Kishore

Another player who displayed excellent form in white-ball domestic cricket recently is R Sai Kishore. The left-arm orthodox spinner was the highest wicket-taker (20) during SMAT 2019-20, playing a crucial role in his team Tamil Nadu’s run to the final. In fact, the decision to give him just one over in the final came as a surprise.

While he might have taken the most wickets during the tournament, what was more impressive was his economy rate. He bowled as many as 44.5 overs and conceded just 4.63 runs per over. He bowled five maidens which is a terrific number when you consider that no other bowler registered more than two maidens during the tournament.

Tom Banton

Among overseas players, England’s Tom Banton is expected to be sold at a good price at this year’s auction. The 21-year-old, who made his T20I debut against New Zealand in November, has an exceptional strike rate (155.15) in T20 cricket. In the 2019 Natwest t20 Blast, he scored 549 runs at an average of 42.23 and a strike rate of 161.47 which is said to have impressed a couple of IPL franchises.

In the past, there have been questions raised about how England batsmen’s inability to play spin well and that has seen some top English talent not being sold for high prices with some even going unsold. For Banton, this case holds true as he averages just 20.71 against spin while it’s 45.64 against pace in T20s. But he does have a strike rate of 154.26 against spin and hence, multiple teams are likely to bid for the young England star.

Hayden Walsh Jr.

It’s been quite a year for Hayden Walsh Jr. He started the year by making his international debut for the United States of America before a surreal Caribbean Premier League (CPL) campaign saw him being drafted into the West Indies team. He really impressed in the second T20I against India, taking two wickets, including the important one of Shivam Dube which went a long way in restricting the Men in Blue’s scoring rate.

It’s his CPL 2019 performances, though, that would have caught the eye of IPL franchises. He took 22 wickets in the tournament, striking every 9.1 deliveries. Unsurprisingly, he was named the Player of the Tournament as his team Barbados Tridents won the title. He is also a brilliant fielder which is an added bonus in T20 cricket.