IPL player auction - New faces and where they could end up

Gaurav Sundararaman16-Feb-2017

Colin de Grandhomme

Allrounder, New Zealand

• De Grandhomme's career strike rate of 170.54 is the best among all batsmen with a minimum of 500 T20 runs.
• In T20Is, he has a strike rate of 136.36 from seven innings.
• He is in sensational recent form, having scored 139 runs in four innings, at an average of 46.33 and a strike rate of 220.63 in the Super Smash, New Zealand's domestic T20 competition.
• He has scored at a 150-plus strike rate in each of the last five Super Smash seasons.
• His medium-pace has fetched him 38 T20 wickets at 29.42. He has a career economy rate of 9.22.

Base price: INR 30 lakh

Potential Role: At No 6 or 7, as a batsman who can hit from ball one. He has a career balls-per-boundary rate of 4.25.

Teams that should target him: Rising Pune Supergiants, Delhi Daredevils, Kolkata Knight Riders, Royal Challengers Bangalore

Ben Stokes

Allrounder, England

• Stokes' career T20 strike rate is 134.03, and he has become more destructive in recent years - since January 2015, his strike rate is 147.20
• In that same period, he has a balls-per-boundary rate of 5.01 and has hit 70 off 46 balls while batting in overs 16-20, with a strike rate of 152.17 and a balls-per-boundary rate of 3.5.
• He has taken 32 T20 wickets at 36.40, and has a career economy rate of 8.60.

Base price: INR 2 crore

Potential role: A finisher at No. 6 or 7, and a seamer who can be used at any stage of an innings

Teams that should target him: Kolkata Knight Riders, Rising Pune Supergiants, Mumbai Indians, Delhi Daredevils

Mohammad Nabi

Allrounder, Afghanistan

• Since January 2015, Nabi has a strike rate of 178 in overs 16-20, and has hit a six or four every four balls.
• He is one of ten players in the last two years to score more than 600 T20 runs and take over 60 wickets.
• Since January 2015, he has a batting strike rate of 142.96 from 44 innings, and with the ball has an economy rate of 6.91 and a strike rate of 17.1. His career economy rate is 6.88.
• Of the ten T20 bowlers who have sent down the most deliveries in the last two years, Nabi has the third-best economy rate behind Sunil Narine and Shahid Afridi
• He was the leading wicket-taker in the 2016 World T20

Base price - INR 30 lakh

Potential role: A middle-order batsman who can send down four tight overs of offspin

Teams that should target him: Rising Pune Supergiants, Delhi Daredevils, Kolkata Knight Riders,Sunrisers Hyderabad

Tymal Mills

Fast bowler, England

• Among all bowlers who have sent down a minimum of 30 overs in the slog (overs 16-20) in the last two years, Mills' economy rate (7.28) is the second-best behind Mustafizur Rahman.
• Mills has a dot-ball percentage of 43 in the slog overs and concedes a boundary once every eight balls
• His career economy rate is 7.47 and his strike rate is 17.7
• His Powerplay economy rate is an impressive 7.61 as well

Base price: INR 50 lakh

Potential role: A left-arm quick capable of bowling in the Powerplays and the slog overs

Teams that should target him: Kolkata Knight Riders, Delhi Daredevils, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Kings XI Punjab, Gujarat Lions

Kesrick Williams

Fast bowler, West Indies

• In the last two years, he has a slog-overs economy rate of 8.0
• Overall, he has 27 T20 wickets in at 19.33 and a career economy rate of 7.25
• In the Powerplay, his economy rate is an even more impressive 6.41, and he has taken five Powerplay wickets across 14 innings

Base price: INR 30 lakh

Potential role: An economical fast bowler to send down the pressure overs

Teams that should target him: Kolkata Knight Riders, Delhi Daredevils, Kings XI Punjab, Gujarat Lions

Kagiso Rabada

Fast bowler, South Africa

• Rabada has a career T20 economy rate of 7.49 from 30 matches
• In the slog overs, he has an economy rate of 8.94
• In Powerplays, he concedes 7.31 runs per over, and has taken 16 wickets at an average of 28.81 in overs 1-6

Base price: INR 1 crore

Potential role: A wicket-taker with pace to rattle batsmen

Teams that should target him: Rising Pune Supergiants, Gujarat Lions, Kolkata Knight Riders, Kings XI Punjab

Nicholas Pooran

Wicketkeeper-batsman, West Indies

• Has a career strike rate of 143.29
• In 2016, he scored his runs at a strike rate of 149.09 while hitting a four or a six every 4.95 balls. Over 67% of his runs came in boundaries
• Against spin in the last one year, he has averaged 25 and scored at a strike rate of 159, while his corresponding numbers against pace are 17 and 140.

Base price: INR 30 lakh

Potential role: Utility player who can bat at various positions and keep wickets

Teams that should target him: Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai Indians

Evin Lewis

Opening batsman, West Indies

• Has a career strike rate of 134.71 and averages 30.66 with two hundreds in 51 innings
• In 2016, his strike rate shot up to 155.73, and over 72% of his runs came in boundaries. His dot-ball percentage, however, was 45%
• He likes facing the quicks - in the last two years he has averaged 41 against them while scoring at a strike rate of 137. He can be more explosive against spinners - strike rate of 144 - but only averages 22 against them.

Base price: INR 50 lakh

Potential role: Back-up opener

Teams that should target him: Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders

Jason Roy

Opening batsman, England

• Has a career T20 strike rate of 143.88 and an average of 28.29, with four centuries
• In the last two years, he has a Powerplay strike rate of 149 and has hit a boundary every 4.12 balls in overs 1-6.
• He is particularly free-scoring against the quicks, with a strike rate of 157 and an average of 37 against them
• He can be tied down by a spinner operating with the new ball, though: in the last two years, his Powerplay strike rate against spin is 116
• He is particularly suspect against legspin: he has scored 143 runs against legspinners in 112 balls, and has been out seven times

Base price: INR 1 crore

Potential role: First-choice opener

Teams that should target him: Mumbai Indians, Rising Pune Supergiants, Kolkata Knight Riders, Sunrisers Hyderabad

Mohammad Shahzad

Wicketkeeper-batsman, Afghanistan

• Since January 2015, he has averaged 35.94 and scored at a strike rate of 135.19, both improvements from his career figures of 32.44 and 128.34
• In Powerplays, he has scored 845 runs off 635 balls, at a strike rate of 133.07

Base price: INR 50 lakh

Potential role: Back-up wicketkeeper/opener

Teams that should target him: Delhi Daredevils, Kolkata Knight Riders

Domestic players

T Natarajan - left-arm fast bowler

• 10 wickets at 7.33 in the TNPL
• Took four wickets at 8.29 in the recently concluded Inter-State T20 Tournament

Teams that should target him: Rising Pune Supergiants, Kolkata Knight Riders, Gujarat Lions, Delhi Daredevils

Vishnu Vinod - wicketkeeper-batsman

• 307 runs at 34.11 and a strike rate of 138.91 in T20
• Fifth-highest run-getter in the Inter-State T20s with 199 at 49.75 and a strike rate of 164.46
• Hit 14 sixes in the tournament, more than any other batsman

Teams that should target him: Delhi Daredevils, Kolkata Knight Riders, Sunrisers Hyderabad

Ankit Bawne - Middle-order batsman

• 431 runs at 33.15 and a strike rate of 127.51 in T20
• Second-highest run-getter in the Inter-State T20s with 235 at 78.33 and a strike rate of 129.83

Teams that should target him: Kings XI Punjab, Delhi Daredevils, Gujarat Lions

Prithvi Shaw - Opening batsman

• Scored a century on Ranji Trophy debut at the age of 17
• In his most recent game, he scored 105 off 89 balls for India against England in an Under-19 ODI

Teams that should target him: Kings XI Punjab, Delhi Daredevils

Tanmay Agarwal - Opening batsman

• Top run-getter in the Inter-State T20s with 250 at 50.00 and a strike rate of 162.33
• Hit a boundary every 4.16 balls during the tournament

Teams that should target him: Royal Challengers Bangalore, Delhi Daredevils, Kings XI Punjab

Mohammed Siraj - Fast bowler

• Nine wickets in the Inter-State T20s at 13.88 and an economy rate of 6.57
• Was the third-highest wicket-taker in the 2016-17 Ranji Trophy with 41 at an average of 18.92

Teams that should target him: Rising Pune Supergiants, Gujarat Lions, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kolkata Knight Riders