Stats - Indian bowlers in high demand as 24 players get million-dollar bids

The opening day of the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction for the 2022 season witnessed as many as 24 players earning million-dollar bids (INR 7.5 crore and more). Fifteen of those were Indian players, including four uncapped ones. Overall, INR 388.35 crore was spent by the 10 franchises to buy 74 players on Saturday - 41 capped and 33 uncapped players.

Across the first 14 editions of the IPL, only one Indian bowler had attracted a bid of more than INR 10 crore at the IPL auction - Jaydev Unadkat in 2018 when Rajasthan Royals got him for 11.5 crore. However, five bowlers joined the list on Saturday, with the highest being INR 14 crore for Deepak Chahar. Harshal Patel and Shardul Thakur got bids of 10.75 crore, while Prasidh Krishna and Avesh Khan earned 10 crore each.

On the whole, INR 155.35 crore was spent on the 27 pacers compared to INR 101.1 crore on the 22 spin bowlers, across the allrounder and bowler sets on the first day of the auction. Seven of those players earned more than INR 10 crore but only one of them bowls spin - Wanindu Hasaranga. This indicated franchises' bias in spending money on the pace bowlers who were successful in the last couple of seasons.

West Indian players have always been crucial to their respective franchises in the IPL but seldom earned big money during their time at the auction. Until 2021, the highest bid for a West Indian was INR 8.5 crore which Sheldon Cottrell got from Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) in 2020. However, three players managed to match that in 2022 - Nicholas Pooran, Jason Holder and Shimron Hetmyer. Hasaranga also broke his country record for the highest auction price with the Royal Challengers Bangalore paying him 10.75 crore. The previous highest bid for a Sri Lankan was INR 7.5 crore by the Delhi franchise in 2015.

Mumbai Indians managed to get back Ishan Kishan but had to spend INR 15.25 crore, one of the highest-ever price tags in the IPL auctions. Before this auction, the franchise had not spent 10 or more crore on any player. The previous highest buy of the five-time Champions was Rohit Sharma, their current skipper, whom they got for approx. 9.2 crore in 2011 ($2 Million). Kishan also became the second more expensive Indian buy at the auctions, behind Yuvraj Singh's 16 crore bid in 2015 by Delhi Daredevils (now Capitals).

Another successful franchise, Chennai Super Kings also had a similar fate to get back Deepak Chahar, who played a vital role in their two titles. Their winning bid for Chahar was 14 crore, well more than their previous highest buy - Ravindra Jadeja. Super Kings had bought Jadeja in 2012 for approx. 9.8 crore ($2 Million).

Lucknow Super Giants' bid of 10 crore for Avesh was not only one of the highest bids made for an Indian bowler, but the first instance of an uncapped player earning a bid of ten or more crore at the IPL auctions. Avesh's auction price was 50 times his base price of 20 lakhs, the highest jump ever seen in the history of IPL auctions. K Gowtham held both records - having earned INR 9.25 crore from an INR 20 lakh base price in 2021.