There is less than a week’s time left in the much anticipated Mega Auction of IPL 2022. It is going to be held in the city of Bangalore on 12th and 13th February and all the ten franchises are eager to build their squads from scratch.
This year’s Mega Auction is very important because it will set the mood for the next few seasons of the competition as the teams are being built from ground zero with only a maximum of 4 players retained beforehand by each franchise.
The BCCI released a list of all the players taking part in the Mega Auction a few days ago and as usual, the players were divided in groups according to the different base prices. The different price categories are 2 Crore, 1.5 Crore, 1 Crore, 75 Lakhs, 50 Lakhs, 40 Lakhs, 30 Lakhs and 20 Lakhs.
The teams shall analyze the players from each category with utmost care ahead of the auction day before they can bid for the players as each team is assigned with a particular purse balance which they can spend in the Auction.
In this article, we shall discuss the 1 Crore Base price bracket and to be more precise, only its Overseas players.
Let us first take at all the Overseas players that have been listed under the 1 Crore base price.
- Faf Du Plessis
- David Miller
- Wanindu Hasaranga
- Mohammad Nabi
- Marnus Labuschagne
- Aiden Markram
- Liam Livingstone
- Odean Smith,
- Tabraiz Shamsi
- Devon Conway
- Rassie Van Der Dussen
- Sherfane Rutherford
- Daniel Sams
- Mitchell Santner
- Joshua Philippe
- Tymal Mills
- Andrew Tye
- Rilee Rossouw
- Roston Chase
- Moises Henriques
- Riley Meredith
- Colin De Grandhomme
- James Faulkner
- Darcy Short
Let us now talk about the Top 5 Players from this price bracket that the IPL franchises can target in the Mega Auction.
1. Faf du Plessis – Faf du Plessis was one of the best performers in IPL 2021. His thrive to prove himself after being left out by Cricket South Africa has only made him a better cricketer and the former Proteas Captain looks like a man on a mission every time he steps on the field.
Faf scored 633 runs in 16 matches in IPL 2021 and he was the second highest run scorer in the season. He missed out on the Orange cap award by just 3 runs to his very own teammate Ruturaj Gaikwad. It was the best season so far in his IPL career and he is seemingly bettering himself every season even at the age of 37. He is one of the fittest players in the World right now.
It was very shocking when CSK let him go but after all they could retain only 4 players so they had nothing to do.
Faf du Plessis is one of the players who are highly underpriced in their base price for the IPL 2022 Mega Auction and teams must capitalize this opportunity of perhaps buying him for a cut price.
2. Wanindu Hasaranga – Wanindu Hasaranga will be an interesting player to watch out for in IPL 2022’s Mega Auction. He did not impress in IPL 2021 with his franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore after he came in as a replacement in the second half of the tournament. However, he was exceptional in the 2021 T20 World Cup and it will be interesting to see which of his two recent performances is considered by the franchises.
The 24-year old Sri Lankan is a bowling all rounder. He is currently the World No. 1 T20 bowler according to the ICC rankings and also knows his way with the bat.
He plays for Lankan Premier League team Jaffna Kings and is one of their core players. His LPL performance can be also brought into account before bidding for him in the Mega Auction.
3. Mohammad Nabi – Afghanistan captain Mohammad Nabi is one of the best bets one can take in T20 cricket currently. He is an excellent spinner and can also play as a finisher as and when required and is thus a must have for any IPL team.
He is currently seated comfortably on No.1 on ICC’s Best All rounders list and he will probably be holding on to that seat for pretty long now.
Mohammad Nabi used to play for IPL franchise Sunriser Hyderabad till this season before being released by them ahead of IPL 2022. He was never really used to his fullest capacity by the SRH franchise and he would like to prove his worth under some other franchise this season.
4. Moises Henriques – Moises Henriques was a very sought after player in the Indian Premier League during his time at Kings XI Punjab and Sunrisers Hyderabad but that time is long gone now.
However, although the IPL franchises have ignored him in the last few seasons, Henriques has been one of the most consistent players in Australia’s Big Bash league and it can be a deciding factor for him in the Mega Auction.
Playing for Sydney Sixers in BBL 11, he scored 440 runs in 15 innings which is a top class number. He had a strike rate of 133.33, average of 36.37 and his highest score was 76*.
Henriques was in PBKS squad in IPL 2021 but wasn’t much successful as he was not given much opportunities to prove himself.
Henriques is known as an allrounder though. He has played 62 matches in total in the Indian Premier League and has scored 1000 runs and picked up 42 wickets.
5. Liam Livingstone – England cricketer Liam Livingstone is one of the best power-hitters in T20 cricket in the world right now. The 28-year old has a lot of potential and he can prove his potential to the fullest in IPL 2022.
Livingstone was the highest run scorer in England’s The Hundred league and he also scored the most sixes in that tournament getting much attention from across the world.
He was in the Rajasthan Royals squad in IPL 2021 and much was expected of him. Unfortunately he would not live up to the expectations of the fans and he scored only 42 runs in 5 matches.
He did not play in BBL 11 but in BBL 10, he was simply phenomenal. Liam Livingstone scored 426 runs in 14 innings in the Big Bash League that season at a strike rate of 133.96 and an average of 30.43. His high score was 77. He also played brilliantly in the Abu Dhabi T10 League.
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