A total of 575 players including a total of 62 capped Indians and 298 uncapped Indians, 182 capped overseas cricketers, 34 uncapped overseas players and 2 cricketers from Associate Nations went under the hammer at the IPL Auction being held in Bengaluru on 27 and 28 January.
During the first day’s auction proceedings, The Quint caught up with former India coach Anil Kumble about the shockers, big buys and Kings XI Punjab’s marquee players strategy.
Here’s a look at the most interesting statements made by Kumble during the live.
Considering the two massive centuries he hit in the last season, Hashim Amla going unsold in this year’s auction was quite a surprise, felt Kumble. The former South Africa top-order batsman, known for his batting prowess, had come in at a base price of Rs 1.5 crore.
Here’s what Anil Kumble had to say:
“Hashim Amla was surprising because he got a couple of hundreds last year, and we know how good a player he is. He may not be the Chris Gayle and the Brendon McCullum who T off from ball one but Hashim is very effective in the shorter format. Tomorrow (28 January) is another day when people will call back some of the players that missed out on the first day.”
While he didn’t think that Karun Nair got lucky with a INR 5.6 crore buy-in, Kumble did say that he was “surprised a lot of Indians did not cross Rs 10 crore barrier, except for a couple of them.”
“Kings XI Punjab have really put their batting together, and it seems like Preity is in a hurry to put together her team,” joked Kumble.
Punjab, who went all guns blazing from the start of the auction, picked up nine players on the first day. “So far they’ve put up their entire line-up and probably identified who their captain is,” added Kumble.
Kings XI Punjab’s hasty and enthusiastic bidding on the first day was "probably a strategy to have a marquee player list in their playing eleven,” felt Kumble. “I think it’s worked so far. They’ve possibly got all the batting order sorted. Now it’s the bowlers so I guess we have to look at the bowlers marquee list,” he said.
Kolkata Knight Riders didn’t retain their former Gautam Gambhir, nor did they bid for the Indian batsman at the auction on 27 January. “If KKR wanted to retain their captain, they would have done it before the auction. Once Gautam Gambhir came back in the auction it was very obvious he was not going to be retained,” said Kumble. The former India coach however felt that Gambhir could “do well for Delhi Daredevils, and possibly lead them too”.
MS Dhoni had mentioned that Chennai Super Kings, who are returning the IPL after serving a two-year suspension would be aiming to get Ravichandran Ashwin back in their squad. Though they entered the bidding war for him, the franchise did not end up getting the star Indian spinner.
“I think Chennai had a INR 4 crore cap for Ashwin, and he kept going up which is why they had to give up,” said Kumble.
“Bhajji (Harbhajan) will probably fill up the role of a missing spinner,” said Kumble. The former India coach felt Harbhajan, who ended up going to Chennai Super Kings, brings with him experience. “He’s a quality off-spinner and is still doing well in the shorter format. I think he’s a good buy,” said Kumble.
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