Auction trends: Titans' 100% strike rate, England players in demand, big hikes and pay cuts
Almost 42% of the total spend was on allrounders; Williamson and Jamieson among the players to have huge salary slashes
Sampath Bandarupalli
25-Dec-2022
Hugh Edmeades sold a total of 80 players on Friday • BCCI
Now that the 2023 IPL auction is all done and dusted, and all the teams know who they have and will formulate their plans around their personnel over the next few months, we go back to Friday and revisit the big action points from the auction.
INR 82 = USD 1
Perfect seven for Titans
Gujarat Titans, the title holders, entered the auction with a purse of INR 19.25 crore for seven available spots. Titans bid only on seven players through the auction and took home all of them - four of them at their base price - and spent big on only one player: Shivam Mavi, who they bought for INR 6 crore.
Gujarat Titans, the title holders, entered the auction with a purse of INR 19.25 crore for seven available spots. Titans bid only on seven players through the auction and took home all of them - four of them at their base price - and spent big on only one player: Shivam Mavi, who they bought for INR 6 crore.
Sunrisers Hyderabad also had a near-perfect auction. They bought 13 of the 14 players they bid for. The only player Sunrisers missed was Ben Stokes, for whom they were in the bidding war until he touched the INR 15-crore mark, before going to Chennai Super Kings
Super Kings, on the other hand, had the lowest success rate as they got only seven of the 16 players they bid for. Super Kings made unsuccessful attempts to buy the players who went for big prices in the initial rounds until they got Stokes for INR 16.25 crore.
Kolkata Knight Riders were next from the bottom, getting their hands on only eight of the 16 they tried to get. Six times - of the eight they missed - they were the losing bidders, the most for any team. Entering the auction with a purse of only INR 7.05 crore didn't let Knight Riders make expensive buys - six of the eight players they bought were at their base prices.
The only team to make bids for more players than Super Kings and Knight Riders were Rajasthan Royals, who bid for 17 players and got nine.
Clamour for England players
Overall, INR 58.1 crore was spent on eight players from England - that's INR 16 crore more than the amount spent to acquire the 51 Indians sold at the event, with Sam Curran, Stokes and Harry Brook the big spends. The three of them were among the five most expensive buys on the day. Between the three, a total of INR 48 crore was spent, which is almost 29% of the total auction spend.
Overall, INR 58.1 crore was spent on eight players from England - that's INR 16 crore more than the amount spent to acquire the 51 Indians sold at the event, with Sam Curran, Stokes and Harry Brook the big spends. The three of them were among the five most expensive buys on the day. Between the three, a total of INR 48 crore was spent, which is almost 29% of the total auction spend.
The top international allrounders were the most in-demand and expensive category at the auction - almost 42% of the total spend was for players listed as allrounders. INR 70.95 crore was spent on the allrounders - INR 8 crore on Indians and INR 62.95 crore on overseas players. Cameron Green was another of the big buys there, going to Mumbai Indians for INR 17.5 crore.
For the 80 players sold at the auction, INR 139 crore was spent on 37 capped players, and INR 28 crore on 43 uncapped players.
The battle over Curran
Curran, who became the most expensive auction buy ever at the IPL, was also the player to attract bids from the most teams. He was the only player six teams bid for: Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Royals, Super Kings, Punjab Kings, and Lucknow Super Giants. Stokes was the other to attract bids from five teams.
Curran, who became the most expensive auction buy ever at the IPL, was also the player to attract bids from the most teams. He was the only player six teams bid for: Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Royals, Super Kings, Punjab Kings, and Lucknow Super Giants. Stokes was the other to attract bids from five teams.
As many as 70 bids were made for Curran, which is also the most for any player at this auction.
Salary cuts for New Zealand stars
Sunrisers, who retained Kane Williamson for INR 14 crores in 2022, released him ahead of the 2023 auction. Williamson was the first player to go under the hammer and was picked by Titans for his base price of INR 2 crore. That's a pay cut of INR 12 crore, but he didn't have the roughest time.
Sunrisers, who retained Kane Williamson for INR 14 crores in 2022, released him ahead of the 2023 auction. Williamson was the first player to go under the hammer and was picked by Titans for his base price of INR 2 crore. That's a pay cut of INR 12 crore, but he didn't have the roughest time.
Kyle Jamieson had a pay cut of INR 14 crore, down to INR 1 crore (Super Kings) from the INR 15 crore he was paid by Royal Challengers in 2021.
Jhye Richardson took a cut of INR 12.5 crore - down from INR 14 crore (Kings) to INR 1.5 crore, which is what Mumbai Indians got him for this time.
Jamieson's pay came down by 93.33%, the second highest for any player at this auction. Romario Shepherd topped the list with 93.5%, bought for INR 50 lakh by Super Giants after being bought by Sunrisers for INR 7.75 crore in 2022.
The biggest percentage hike came for Rilee Rossouw, whose got a 1433.33% increase on his previous pay cheque. Rossouw was last part of the IPL in 2015, when he earned INR 30 lakh from Royal Challengers. This time, Delhi Capitals paid him INR 4.6 crore during the accelerated round of the auction.
In terms of money, Curran got the biggest jump: from INR 5.5 crore in 2021 to INR 18.5 crore, a hike of INR 13 crore.
Sampath Bandarupalli is a statistician at ESPNcricinfo