Any IPL franchise might want to have the likes of Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma in their squad. But that’s unlikely. With the teams count now evolved to a bigger number of 10, pent up demand for the players has gone up really strong.
Tons of works happen behind the screen within the team officials before a team turns up to the auction room or come up with their retention lists. The drama unveiling in the auction room is just the front-end of the auction. The real auction starts well before. I am here to discuss that. About the things that help the think tanks decide which player to back on or release.
Team composition is much bigger than a single player; however big the player be.
Sketching out what the team lacked in their previous editions is more important now. Also, teams cannot only keep banking on the auctions to find their players. They have to built their own core. That’s the future. Scouting out young talents and building junior academies are going to be the next norm in the IPL environment. Mega auctions will be out of the action soon enough. IPL has now got into the global mode and teams are trying their best to get the best possible lineups to win the tournaments. Anyways that’s a topic for another day.
Now, let’s see the important parameters on what the teams really look for, before bidding for a player.
Death-over Specialists
Pacer who bowls first 2 overs with the new ball and gets early wickets and comes back at death overs to control the run flow will always add to the team’s strength. Mustafizur Rahman had played that role exactly in the 2016 IPL leading their team winning the tournament.
Performing in Pressure Situations
Ben Stokes, more than an allrounder, has always been the match-winner for England and few IPL teams he has played for. His contribution in Pune Super Giants in IPL 2018 was outstanding. Also. Players who can deliver with bat or bowl at the most important part of the innings will be the key to win matches in IPL. This is where the Overseas and Indian International players matters with their valuable experience. Demand for Ben Stokes in the last IPL auction shows his value of all-round performance.
Player fitting into the team composition
There is no meaning in picking up the worlds’ best player if your team has no place for him. On the contrary IPL teams will be ready to buy a player, at whatever cost, who fits their role perfectly, even though he is not a big shot.
And that is why few Foreign players might go unpicked in the Auction.
Lack of Experience in Indian Pitches
Any Player who has performed explicitly well in Other leagues or even Internationally but with very less experience in Indian Pitches will have to be more than fortunate to get picked into any IPL teams. Martin Guptill knows it really well when he went unsold in the IPL Auction last year. Even later when he got picked at the midpoint of the tournament replacing an injured player, he couldn’t perform well as predicted by the SRH mentor VVS Laxman.
Cool minded Players
Cool Minded players will come very handy in the situation when the team gets hit with shockers. In tournaments like IPL, any game is important. Teams which leads the league table for 75% of the tournament will get into the bottom 4 with just two or three flops. Dwayne Bravo’s cool minded bowling ability and his attitude win both audiences and matches. George Bailey and Ambati Rayudu kind of players comes into this category very easily.
Availability of the players throughout the series
This is one of the major factors which can affect some overseas players in IPL Auction this year. Players who are not sure of the entirety of their presence will make the bidders think twice before picking them. Jason Roy getting half of his Base price and Alex Hales going unsold last year was a proof.
