ANALYSIS
Follow UsFour years ago, in the previous Mega Auction, Rajasthan Royals splashed a whopping 11.50 crore on Jaydev Unadkat. The move ultimately bombed, leading to RR becoming the butt of a lot of jokes, but while things did not go as planned, there was solid reasoning behind what the Royals did.
The logic was as follows: the franchise identified that they will go a long way in constructing a settled, well-balanced team by snapping up a potentially world-class Indian spearhead. The choice of personnel turned out to be wrong, but their strategy has since been vindicated by how the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Deepak Chahar and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, among others, have been integral to their respective franchises’ sustained consistency.
With over a dozen exciting seamers up for grabs, it is going to be pandemonium this time around at the auction table.
We delve deep into the numbers of the Indian speedsters who will go under the hammer in a week’s time, and look at the players who stand out ahead of the Mega Auction on the 12th and 13th of February.
The strike bowlers set to catch franchises’ attention
As the only Indian seamer in the marquee list, Mohammed Shami, regardless of his mixed T20 numbers, will be a sought-after commodity. Despite being on the higher side in terms of economy, the fact remains that Shami is an out-and-out strike bowler: he’s taken 19 or more wickets in each of the three previous IPL seasons.
But come the mega auction, there is no paucity of wicket-taking options for franchises.
In the upper-most echelon, almost in a league of his own, is Avesh Khan, who not only has one of the best strike-rates and concedes at under 7.3 runs an over, but also already has a breakthrough IPL season under his belt. Statistically, he is the most enticing of all options, even if we are to ignore the fact that he’s young and pacey.
Alongside him as arguably the most potent wicket-taker is Harshal Patel, while lurking below the former RCB man is none other than Shardul Thakur, who picked 21 wickets last season. Outside Shami, these three stand out as proven wicket-taking options.
Chetan Sakariya pretty much rounds off the proven, bankable wicket-takers list, although it would be pretty disingenuous to exclude Deepak Chahar despite his strike rate in the past two seasons being on the higher side.
Interestingly, comfortably above the strike rate median are a few unexpected names - Baroda’s Lukman Meriwala, who made one appearance for the Capitals last season, Himachal’s Pankaj Jaswal, who has thus far taken a staggering 1.55 wickets per game in T20s, Hyderabad’s Chama Milind, Andhra’s Cheepurapalli Stephen and Vidarbha’s Darshan Nalkande.
Milind, Stephen and Nalkande all finished inside the Top 5 wicket-takers in the 2021/22 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. These uncapped bowlers will certainly be on teams’ radar; if nothing, they could be valuable back-ups.
The Mr. Reliables with the new ball
Being a powerplay ace is no mean feat, and for franchises, bowlers who can be relied upon inside the field restrictions are worth their weight in gold. The IPL 2022 auction list features a multitude of local pacers capable of providing an edge with the new ball.
Among those who have bowled 50 or more balls inside the powerplay in T20s since the start of 2020, Tamil Nadu’s G Periyasamy, Rajasthan’s Tanveer Ul Haq, released SRH seamer Siddharth Kaul, Avesh and Bengal’s Ishan Porel stand out as the most potent bowlers, with each of the aforementioned seamers boasting a strike rate of 18.00 or under in overs 1-6 in the said period.
In this list, both Periyasamy (5.67) and Tanveer (5.82) have also been remarkably economical, but, if the numbers are to be believed, there is a sea of seamers capable of keeping things tight up-front.
Himachal’s Vaibhav Arora, Bengal’s Akash Deep, Tamil Nadu’s R Silambarasan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sandeep Sharma and Ishant Sharma have all been supremely disciplined with the new ball, conceding at under 6.60 runs per over.
Another very handy customer in the powerplay is Unadkat, who has conceded at under 7 while striking every 24 balls.
Quite shockingly, sitting far from the top with an appalling economy and strike rate is Deepak Chahar, but the right-armer’s reputation and experience will certainly ensure that he is a hot commodity.
A dearth of death specialists
There will be an abundance of powerplay specialists up for grabs in the auction, but that will not be the case in terms of death specialists.
Among Indian seamers in the auction who have bowled 50 or more balls in overs 16-20 in T20s since the start of 2020, only 7 bowlers have an economy lower than 9, with Kaul (7.83) being the best of the lot. This number alone could end up landing the veteran a gig.
Surprisingly, Sakariya and Deepak Chahar have been among the most effective, with the duo being the only two bowlers whose balls-per-boundary is higher than 7.
Avesh and Harshal have also registered pretty decent numbers, and the demand for good death bowlers will certainly land the two seamers a big pay-day.
There are not too many uncapped bowlers in this list, with TN’s Periyasamy and Bengal’s Mukesh Kumar being the only two bowlers who have managed to maintain an ER under 9 after delivering over 50 balls.
T Natarajan’s numbers do not look great on paper, but the left-armer, due to what he managed to do in IPL 2020, will be a sought-after player, given the scarcity of reliable death options.
Young guns in focus
While the numbers above give a fair idea of who the franchises will be after, teams will also be keen to invest in young bowlers, both capped and uncapped, whose statistics might not currently do justice to their talent and potential.
Close to 40 fast bowlers under the age of 26 will go under the hammer - this includes the likes of Shivam Mavi and Kamlesh Nagarkoti who have listed themselves as ‘all-rounders’. Players such as Prasidh Krishna and Kartik Tyagi are guaranteed to trigger bidding wars despite their poor IPL numbers due to sheer potential.
All seamers listed above have been part of IPL environments, either as a net bowler or as a player, (some are vastly experienced already) and franchises will be keen to invest in them to reap rewards down the road, once the bowlers become finished articles.
