There is less than a month’s time in hand before the much anticipated Mega Auction of IPL 2022 and the franchises need to complete strategizing their list of targets soon. BCCI announced the first draft of the complete list of players a few days ago and although it is supposed to go through a filtration process, the top players taking part in the tournament will remain the same. The teams can thus sort out their top priority players for the Auction already and in this article we shall be talking about something similar.
Over the years, we have seen several players being sold for some insane amounts in the IPL Auctions. The most recent transaction in the IPL Auction that shocked everyone was the record breaking bid that Rajasthan Royals made to buy South African all-rounder Chris Morris in IPL 2021. The Proteas players were sold for a whopping price of 16.25 which is the highest till date in IPL’s history. Although we have seen players earning huge salaries of more than 17 crores (Like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni), 16.25 crore still remains the highest bid ever in an IPL Auction. However, there is a big chance that this record will be completely shattered in the upcoming mega auction of IPL 2022.
This is the first time ever that so many Star players are taking part in an IPL auction and the teams also do not have a Right to Match. We must thus be prepared for some big and jaw dropping player prices and many records can be broken on 12th and 13th February, i.e the two dates on which the auction is supposed to take place.
Let us now take a look at 5 Players who have the potential of entering the 15 crore club in IPL 2022’s Mega Auction
1. David Warner – David Warner is one of the biggest stars who is taking part in the Mega Auction. After a tussle with the SRH management, David Warner broke ties with his former team last year and he was shockingly not drafted by any of the two new franchises as well despite his brilliant performance in the T20 World Cup 2021. David Warner pretty much redeemed himself in the 2021 T20 World Cup and he also became the Man of the tournament which was a big boost in his confidence. Ever since, he has been playing fabulously with the Australia National team in all the formats.
David Warner is an able captain that makes him a desirable suitor for the captain-less franchises like KKR, PBKS and RCB but he can also be solely bought for his batting skills. David Warner is an absolute IPL legend. He has scored the highest runs in IPL history among Overseas players and has innumerable records to his name. He is also in form and it will be rather shocking if he doesn’t make his way to the 15 crore club in this auction.
2. Trent Boult – You might not have guessed that Trent Boult will be there on this list but after all he is one of the best fast bowlers in the world at this point. He is bettered by maybe Jasprit Bumrah alone but after the Indian maestro, Trent Boult is perhaps the best or simply he is the second best bowler in the world if not the first. And he will thus be a brilliant addition to any IPL franchise. At Mumbai Indians, he made a fabulous duo with Jasprit Bumrah and together they won many IPLs for the franchise. But there is a big chance that the 5 time champions will not get hold of the player any more in this auction as many other teams have more remaining balance in the purse.
In IPL 2020, Trent picked up 25 wickets in just 15 matches and single handedly paved Mumbai’s way to victory. He is a ruthe force in the dead overs and all the teams will be eager to bid for him in the Mega Auction.
3. Shreyas Iyer – Shreyas Iyer is yet another captaincy candidate in the Mega Auction’s player roster. However in this case the suitors are pretty much narrowed down to Kolkata Knight Riders, Punjab Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad as Shreyas Iyer’s sole wish is to return to captaincy role and the IPL teams will probably respect his wish. However, it does not change the fact that there will be fierce competition between the sides to buy in the batsman. After all Iyer is one of the futures of Indian Cricket and the teams want to make full use of his brand value and also his playing skills.
Shreyas Iyer could not play the first half of IPL 2021 owing to a surgery but he peaked in the 2020 season. That year he scored 519 runs in 17 matches and that was his personal best year. He has been in fabulous form with the national team recently as well and is thus in form.
4. Shardul Thakur – In the last one year, Shardul Thakur has established himself as an all rounder. He has always been a go to option for his team when they required a breakthrough wicket but he has now turned himself into a responsible batsman as well. He has played many great knocks for the Indian national lately and has gained worldwide acclaim as an All-rounder.
His most recent heroics came against South Africa in the ODI series. On a tricky pitch , Shardul Thakur scored an unbeaten 90 runs in the first two matches combined. He scored a fifty in the first match and 40 runs in the second match before being rested in the 3rd ODI. All-rounders have always been the most desirable players in T20 cricket and especially in the IPL. And Shardul Thakur is thus a big contender of becoming the most expensive player of the Mega Auction after adding batting to his resume.
5. Deepak Chahar – Just like his former CSK teammate Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar has also become an all-rounder. After all it is not easy to score 54 off 34 against South Africa on their home turf in a match where all the other batters of your team have done poorly. Deepak Chahar did just that in the third ODI between India and South Africa. He would have almost won the match for India, had it not been for his unfortunate dismissal. This was not his first great knock though. In the series between India and Sri Lanka, Deepak Chahar scored an unbeaten 69 once and was simply unstoppable. He has thus proven that he can be a dependable batsman if his team needs him to step up.
His bowling, on the other hand, has always been incredible. He was MS Dhoni’s go to pacer in the CSK team and always delivered. Deepak Chahar’s best IPL season was IPL 2022 where he picked up 22 wickets in 17 matches. Last year he picked up 14 wickets in 15 matches.
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