IPL teams that can target Shardul Thakur in IPL 2022 Mega Auction: The excitement for the Tata IPL 2022 Mega Auction amongst the fans is swelling exponentially with each passing day. The Indian cricket board has already marked February 12 and 13 as the two marquee days to conduct the IPL 2022 Mega Auction in Bangaluru.
As many as 590 players from different nationalities will go under the hammer to find their new IPL teams for the upcoming edition of the tournament.
Ahead of the IPL 2022 Mega Auction, every IPL franchise picked their top retained players. Similarly, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) also picked four of its top players including Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni, Moeen Ali and Ruturaj Gaikwad. The franchise had to release all-rounder Shardul Thakur to the mega auction.
Thakur has been a key contributor to the Chennai Super Kings success last year. He played sensational cricket throughout the tournament and proved valuable to the team.
Owing to his consistent T20 performances, Thakur received his national call-up and the cricketer is now a consistent feature in India’s all three formats.
All-rounders are often chased by multiple IPL franchises during the mega auction. In the IPL 2021 auctions, all-rounder Chris Morris bagged a massive contract from Rajasthan Royals (RR) worth 16.25 crores. In the IPL 2020, Pat Cummins bagged the costliest contract.
So there is a trend that the all-rounders are the ones who become the costliest player in the IPL auctions. The likes of Chris Morris, Pat Cummins, Ben Stokes, Shane Watson, Yuvraj Singh and Ravindra Jadeja are prime examples of such trends.
Shardul Thakur possesses wicket-taking abilities and has a knack for producing crucial breakthroughs. He is quite sensational with his bowling skills while he is doing work on his batting skills to match his bowling.
In this article, we will discuss top IPL teams that can target Shardul Thakur in the IPL 2022 Mega Auction.
IPL teams that can target Shardul Thakur in IPL 2022 Mega Auction:
Chennai Super Kings (CSK):
Shardul Thakur originally belongs to Chennai and the south Indian franchise would love to have the all-rounder back in the yellove squad.
Chennai has experienced a lot of success riding on the back of Shardul Thakur. He was CSK’s go-to bowler when MS Dhoni wanted to break a crucial partnership. Thakur can be costly with his economy, but his value in the team is worth in gold.
Besides his bowling skills, Shardul Thakur is a very handy batsman towards the end of the innings. He can tonk the opposition for boundaries and sixes in succession and amass quickfire runs for the team.
CSK have balanced its core group with two spin bowling all-rounders in Moeen Ali and Ravindra Jadeja, but the franchise will need Shardul Thakur’s services to complete the core setup of the team.
It must be noted that Thakur remained the highest wicket-taker for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the recently held IPL 2021. He scalped 21 wickets from 16 appearances at an economy of 8.80.
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Rajasthan Royals (RR):
The Royals bought the services of South African all-rounder Chris Morris in the IPL 2021 for a massive INR 16.25 Crores. In fact, the contract of Chris Morris with Rajasthan Royals is the costliest IPL auction contract ever. Morris surpassed the likes of Yuvraj Singh, who was acquired by Delhi Daredevils for INR 16 Crores in IPL 2015.
Chris Morris couldn’t justify the price tag associated with him. The pacer could only scalp 15 wickets in 11 IPL 2021 matches. Even with the bat, Morris only scored 67 runs from 11 matches.
Rajasthan Royals (RR) will have a high chance to bid for Shardul Thakur in the IPL 2022 Mega Auction. The Indian all-rounder can replace the services of Chris Morris.
Thakur is super valuable with his short bowling spells. He can provide breakthroughs and break important partnerships. Moreover, he can also come in handy at the death overs.
The Indian all-rounder has scalped 67 wickets in 61 IPL matches in his career at an economy of 8.89.
Rajasthan Royals (RR) have retained Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal. The three retentions cost them 28 Crores while they have INR 62 Crores of purse value which the franchise can use to buy players at the IPL 2022 Mega Auction.
Mumbai Indians (MI):
The five times IPL champions, Mumbai Indians (MI) have the tradition of investing heavily in domestic players. Since the inception of the league, Mumbai’s scout team has done fantastic work in identifying valuable talents for the team. The likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya are the two of their prime examples of outstanding scouting.
Ahead of the IPL 2022 Mega Auction, Mumbai retained Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav and Kieron Pollard.
MI can bid for Shardul Thakur in the upcoming mega auction and add a local flavour to the team. Thakur, being a local Mumbai boy, can perform strongly in Mumbai’s home ground Wankhede Stadium.
Moreover, he can be extensively groomed under the guidance of Jasprit Bumrah to become a daunting pacer.
It must be noted that all-rounder Hardik Pandya is no longer associated with Mumbai Indians and the franchise would certainly require an all-rounder who can come in and fill the void.
It must be noted that Shardul doesn’t possess admirable records as far as his batting is concerned. But from what we have known, seeing him play for India in ODI’s and Test, Shardul Thakur can be extremely dangerous for the opposition if he manages to hit a couple of sixes and boundaries towards the end of the innings.
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