With Rs 230.45 crore being spent on 72 cricketers, a couple of whom earned unprecedented contracts, the ten Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises showcased their team-building prowess, to the best of their abilities, during 19 December’s auction.
Except, the ‘best’ of some teams were discernibly better than those of others. So in this article, we will take a look at the winners and losers of the IPL 2024 auction.
IPL 2024 Auction – Those Who Won
Team 1: Mumbai Indians
Auction Purchases: Gerald Coetzee (Rs 5 crore), Nuwan Thushara (Rs 4.80 crore), Dilshan Madushanka (Rs 4.60 crore), Mohammad Nabi (Rs 1.50 crore), Shreyas Gopal (Rs 20 lakh), Shivalik Sharma (Rs 20 lakh), Anshul Kamboj (Rs 20 lakh), Naman Dhir (Rs 20 lakh).
Albeit a section of their fanbase announced mutiny following Rohit Sharma’s eviction from captaincy responsibilities, if we are to quarantine that melee, Mumbai Indians will emerge as the team to perform the best at the auction table.
Arriving in Dubai with a purse of only Rs 17.75 crore – only Rajasthan Royals and Lucknow Super Giants had less money to spend – it was imperative for Mumbai to be pennywise, and not splurge cash on record-breaking deals.
Having released Jofra Archer, Jhye Richardson and Riley Meredith, they needed three overseas pacers, which they surprisingly acquired for only Rs 14.40 crores.
Gerald Coetzee – South Africa’s leading wicket-taker at the 2023 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup, who scalped more wickets than Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc – was signed for only Rs 5 crore, while Dilshan Madushanka – the competition’s third-highest wicket-taker – cost Mumbai only Rs 4.6 crore.
Spending less than expected on these two, Mumbai had the luxury of going big on Nuwan Thushara, whom they eventually signed for Rs 4.8 crore. With action like Lasith Malinga, coupled with the ability to swing the ball, Thushara has been an asset in franchise cricket of late. Recently at the Abu Dhabi T10 League, the Sri Lankan scalped 13 wickets at an average of 12.30, finishing as the tournament’s second-highest wicket-taker.
Lastly, with their pace department looking more formidable than any other team’s, Mumbai needed to find an inexpensive overseas spin-bowling all-rounder to aide Piyush Chawla, which they did in the form of Mohammad Nabi. Despite being at the dusk of his career, Nabi is still proving to be handy in franchise cricket, and was recently seen picking up eight wickets at the Abu Dhabi T10 League.
Team 2: Chennai Super Kings
Auction Purchases: Daryl Mitchell (Rs 14 crore), Sameer Rizvi (Rs 8.60 crore), Shardul Thakur (Rs 4 crore), Mustafizur Rahman (Rs 2 crore), Rachin Ravindra (Rs 1.80 crore), Avanish Rao Aravelly (Rs 20 lakh).
Being the defending champions, Chennai arrived at the auction with a squad already good enough to win titles. With Rs 31.40 crore to spend, they have managed to further strengthen certain positions, which perhaps needed strengthening.
English all-rounder Moeen Ali’s IPL 2023 campaign was far from underwhelming, but not as good as the outings he had in the previous couple of seasons. Chennai now have the luxury of replacing him with either Daryl Mitchell or Rachin Ravindra. The pair – signed for a cumulative fee of Rs 15.80 crore – accumulated a combined 1130 runs at the World Cup.
Considering Mukesh Choudhary is returning from a prolonged injury layoff, and Tushar Deshpande is often on the expensive side, Chennai also needed a reliable Indian seamer, which they now have in Shardul Thakur.
The all-rounder might not have had a memorable IPL 2023 campaign, but the inexplicable phenomenon of best-when-playing-under-Dhoni works well in his case. Thakur played a crucial role in Chennai’s title triumphs in 2018 and 2021, picking up 16 and 21 wickets in those two seasons respectively.
Lastly, with MS Dhoni’s time with the bat being limited, Chennai needed an Indian power-hitter to play the finisher’s part. They did have to shell out Rs 8.60 crore from their coffers, but by doing so, they signed a brilliant talent in Sameer Rizvi. At the recently concluded 2023 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT), Rizvi was Uttar Pradesh’s leading run-scorer, accumulating 277 runs at an average of 69.25 and a strike rate of 139.89.
IPL 2024 Auction – Those Who Didn’t Win
Team 1: Royal Challengers Bangalore
Auction Purchases: Alzarri Joseph (Rs 11.50 crore), Yash Dayal (Rs 5 crore), Lockie Ferguson (Rs 2 crore), Tom Curran (Rs 1.50 crore), Saurav Chauhan (Rs 20 lakh), Swapnil Singh (Rs 20 lakh)
In hindsight, Royal Challengers Bangalore fans will be happy with the trade of Cameron Green, for their auction purchases do not inspire much confidence. With a purse of Rs 23.25 crore, they have not been able to strengthen their squad in any department.
Initially eager to spend nearly their entire purse on Pat Cummins, Bangalore eventually found an alternative in Alzarri Joseph, for whom they spent more than Mumbai did on Coetzee and Madushanka combined.
While he has done well for West Indies recently, the pacer has an IPL career economy rate of 9.19 runs per over, with 20 wickets in 19 matches at an average of 28.80 doing very little to justify that figure.
In Lockie Ferguson and Tom Curran, the Challengers have acquired two pacers who also have often been generous in conceding runs at the IPL. The Kiwi pacer’s economy rate was season was 12.52 runs per over, while the Englishman conceded 10.84 runs per over in the 13 matches he has played in this competition.
The decision to spend Rs 5 crore on Yash Dayal is a tad perplexing. While it will be unjust to judge the left-arm pacer based on his last over against Rinku Singh, he was Uttar Pradesh’s most expensive bowler at SMAT 2023, with his economy rate being 8.30 runs per over.
To add to the pace woes, Bangalore also could not find a frontline spinner, and will subsequently have to rely heavily on Karn Sharma and Mayank Dagar.
Team 2: Punjab Kings
Auction Purchases: Harshal Patel (Rs 11.75 crore), Rilee Rossouw (Rs 8 crore), Chris Woakes (Rs 4.20 crore), Tanay Thyagarajann (Rs 20 lakh), Vishwanath Pratap Singh (Rs 20 lakh), Ashutosh Sharma (Rs 20 lakh), Shashank Singh (Rs 20 lakh), Prince Choudhary (Rs 20 lakh).
Even if we are to keep the Shashank Singh confusion aside – whom Punjab Kings have confirmed to be an intentional signing, and not a mistaken one – not much that the Shikhar Dhawan-led team did at the auction table made sense.
They had Rs 29.10 crore to spend, which they did on eight players, but only one among them is likely to make it to the playing XI. South African batter Rilee Rossouw – for whom Punjab coughed up Rs 8 crore – might not feature in a team already having Jonny Bairstow and Liam Livingstone in their batting unit.
Similarly, with Sam Curran, Kagiso Rabada and Nathan Ellis already available as overseas pacers, Punjab could easily have opted against paying Rs 4.20 crore to Chris Woakes.
The decision to sign Harshal Patel for Rs 11.75 crore can be questioned as well, considering he had an underwhelming IPL 2023 season, which was followed by a subpar SMAT 2023 outing, where he picked up only seven wickets in as many matches, at an economy rate of 8.62 runs per over.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)