Top expensive players to watch in Tata IPL 2022: The fifteenth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has already begun to elate its fans and supporters with the mega auction just around the corner. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has stamped on 12th and 13th February as the two days to conduct the Tata IPL 2022 Mega Auction in Bangalore.
Weeks ahead of the mega auction, the BCCI released a list of players who have enrolled to take part in the much-awaited IPL 2022 Mega Auction. As per the report, as many as 1,214 players have filled up the mega auction form.
Every IPL franchise will enter the mega auction with the sole intention to construct a formidable squad that can serve the franchise for at least three years. Moreover, several reports have claimed that the Tata IPL 2022 mega auction is going to be the last mega auction conducted by the BCCI. So, the teams are going to give their all to form a strong squad.
For a quick recap, during the player retentions, as many as 33 players were retained by the 10 IPL franchises, which includes the six draft picks of the two new IPL teams. The rest of the other players, who aren’t retained by their previous teams, will head to the auction table, thereby causing a bidding war and getting a new franchise or perhaps storming again into their previous franchise.
Ahead of the mega auction, experts and cricket pundits have suggested their top players, who according to them will bag a massive amount in the mega auction and fans should watch their performance in the IPL 2022. This article is going to be some of the top expensive players to watch for in the Tata IPL 2022.
Top expensive players to watch in Tata IPL 2022:
Ishan Kishan:
Jharkhand young wicketkeeper-batsman Ishan Kishan made himself unavailable for the selection of three draft picks for the two new IPL teams. As per the reports, Ahmedabad, one of the two new IPL franchises, badly wanted to get Ishan Kishan on board, however, the southpaw declined the offer and chose to go at the auction table.
Ishan Kishan couldn’t find a sure shot place for himself in Mumbai’s retention list as the franchise opted to go with Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav and Kieron Pollard as their top four retentions.
However, Mumbai knows the abilities of Ishan Kishan who showed encouraging signs at the latter part of the IPL 2021. He formed a daunting opening pair with Rohit Sharma in IPL 2021’s last league matches and scored quickfire runs to improve his chances of getting a hefty contract.
Interestingly, Ishan Kishan is the one who can change the course of a match with his sheer power hitting. The southpaw mustered 84 (32) and 50 (25) runs in the last two matches which clearly shows his prowess to suppress the opposition.
I’m sure Ishan Kishan is going to bag a bulky contract in the coming mega auction and will put multiple IPL franchises into a bidding war.
Shardul Thakur:
Former Chennai Super Kings (CSK) all-rounder, Shardul Thakur is also going to get a monstrous deal in the upcoming mega auction. CSK retained the likes of Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni, Moeen Ali and Ruturaj Gaikwad and unfortunately, Lord Shardul couldn’t make it to that list.
Nevertheless, the mega auction is only going to reward the all-rounder for his sensational form of late. Shardul Thakur has become a permanent figure in Indian cricket lately. He has not only cemented his place in the test format but also gotten a place in the limited-overs team.
Harsha Bhogle, the renowned commentator, once said, if you are an all-rounder who can bat deep down the order and can scalp a few wickets here and there then you are going to get a million-dollar bid in the IPL auction or perhaps you might go on to be the most expensive players of all time.
Shardul Thakur is a golden bird with all the promising features. Earlier, he only used to perform as the bowler, however, with his improved batting skills, he has posed himself as one of the toughest candidates to get a hefty IPL contract.
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Harshal Patel:
The fourteenth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) was nothing short of a fairytale for pacer Harshal Patel. The speedster claimed wickets on almost all games and bagged the purple cap award for picking up 32 wickets. In fact, Harshal equalled the record of highest wickets taken in an IPL season.
Unfortunately, despite such a staggering performance, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) overlooked the seamer and retained just three cricketers in Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell and Mohammad Siraj.
But nothing to worry about as things seems bright for Harshal Patel. His canny ability to deliver slower balls at the death is his major highlight and several franchises would bid for his death bowling abilities.
In fact, it won’t be wrong to say, Harshal Patel’s most wickets in the IPL 2021 came at the death overs by deceiving the batsman with his unchanged action slower deliveries.
We surely can’t foresee him getting the highest bid, however, he will be someone who can be brought in the price slab of INR 6-9 Crores in the mega auction and there will be a couple of franchises who will be actively taking part to bag his services.
Mitchell Marsh:
To end the list of top expensive players to watch for in the IPL 2022, Australian Mitchell Marsh occupies the fourth and final spot.
Australian all-rounder Mitchell Marsh has been a standout performer for the Aussie national team in the recent past. Marsh played a crucial role in Australia’s maiden T20 World Cup triumph by scoring 215 runs with an average of 43 and striking close to 139.
Though Marsh’s previous outings in the IPL hasn’t been memorable, his recent T20I performances will serve as a bridge for the IPL teams to reform his image as a genuine T20 cricketer. The talismanic batter featured for Rising Pune Supergiants and Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL but couldn’t leave a solid mark.
Marsh’s recent BBL season 11 performances will encourage the IPL franchises to bid for him. The all-rounder plundered 347 runs from 8 BBL 11 innings at an average of 57.83. Talking about his bowling abilities, Marsh is a handy operator of the ball and can provide crucial breakthroughs. He scalped five wickets in as many matches in the BBL 11.
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