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Top bargains from IPL 2021 mini auctions
IPL 2021: KKR eyes some big buys with limited resource ahead of mini-auction
Despite being the two-time IPL champions, the recent years for Kolkata Knight Riders has been far from impressive, Despite having several big names in their arsenal, the Kolkata based franchise hasn’t managed to gel as a unit which has resulted in their below-par performances in the last three years. Under the captaincy of Dinesh Karthik, KKR had shown glimpses of their repertoire but hasn’t been able to take it to the next level. Karthik was removed from the captaincy last year and it was handed over to Eoin Morgan. KKR did manage to outclass Rajasthan Royals in their final group game last year but that wasn’t enough to book themselves a spot in the playoffs. When it comes to the history of IPL, KKR hasn’t had the greatest of times in the first three editions under the captaincy of Sourav Ganguly but the induction of Gautam Gambhir as the skipper totally changed the dynamics of the franchise. The southpaw led KKR to two championship titles but since his departure, the team hasn’t managed to form a solid base which hasn’t really kept them in the best of shapes. Going into the mini-auctions, KKR will surely look to balance caution with aggression and form a team which might just help them to seal their third IPL title. Barring Shubman Gill, none of the top order players has been consistent and especially after batting first, the franchise hasn’t managed to post big enough total for their bowlers to come into action. They will surely be looking to get some big names in their kitty despite having limited resources. Strengths Shubman Gill at the top of the order looks a sorted guy but his strike rate had come under the scrutiny quite often in the last year. However, we are not quite sure what was the approach of team management and whether he was instructed to play the sheet-anchor’s role. We have already seen how aggressive Gill is. For a player of that stature and still not getting his strike rate up is a matter of concern for KKR but given his skill sets and some stellar performances for India in the recent past, KKR will surely be looking forward to seeing him come out all guns blazing in the next edition. The captaincy department has been handed over to Morgan but KKR hasn’t parted ways with Karthik either. So it’s a win-win scenario for KKR in this regard. With so much international captaincy experience under his belt, Morgan will surely look to lift the team in the upcoming edition with his strategies and planning with Karthik helping him out. The bowling department also looks more or less sorted with Pat Cummins spearheading the attack. He will be assisted by Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy, the two mystery spinners which KKR are very proud of having. It proved to be the breakthrough year for Chakravarthy last season which also earned him a national call-up which was cut short in the end owing to injuries. They might also go with Kuldeep Yadav if they want a wrist spinner in their XI. Guys like Shivam Mavi and Kamlesh Nagarkoti also showed glimpses of their abilities in the last season and will look to be a bit more consistent going into the next edition. Potential Targets for KKR Mohammad Azharudden Mohammed Azharuddeen has been one of the talking points in the Indian domestic set-up ever since he smashed that blazing century in the recently concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. He is a top natch youngster to have and his ability to smash the ball from word go despite not taking too many undue risks will play a perfect foil if given the opportunity to open with Shubman Gill. It will also allow the young sensation to play his natural game and the issues regarding the strike rate might just drop down a bit. On a personal front, I definitely feel that the KKR team management might go on a bidding war to acquire the services of this 26-year-old. Dawid Malan The power-hitting England middle-order batsman has been a sensation in the shorter formats and his ability to strike the ball big and play sensibly in the middle overs might just make the KKR team management go after him. The No 1 ranked T20I batsman, Malan has gone on from strength to strength in the last couple of years and his introduction to KKR might work wonders for them. In the recently concluded BBL, we have seen some stellar knocks from the blade of the southpaw. Yet to be a part of the IPL, Malan could be in the radar for several teams but in my perspective, KKR might go on a bidding war to acquire his services. Piyush Chawla That might sound odd given the fact that he was smashed for plenty while playing for CSK last year but Chawla had been an asset for the two-time champions previously. Maybe the Eden Gardens surface is more conductive for his style of bowling and hence the KKR team management might be tempted to buy him back. Jason Behrendorff/Mitchell McLenaghan I have given out two names here because both the bowlers offer similar sort of a balance to any playing XI. With Pat Cummins and Lockie Ferguson already in the KKR set-up, they might look for some variety in the fast bowling department and having a left-arm pacer is always a luxury. While McClenaghan has been a proven customer in the IPL for the Mumbai Indians, Behrendorff hasn’t got enough opportunities in the cash-rich league but one among the two could be on KKR’s radar. PLAYERS RETAINED: Dinesh Karthik, Andre Russell, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Nitish Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Rinku Singh, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Mavi, Shubman Gill, Sunil Narine, Eoin Morgan (c), Pat Cummins, Rahul Tripathi, Varun Chakravarthy, Harry Gurney, Ali Khan PLAYERS RELEASED: M Siddharth, Nikhil Naik, Siddhesh Lad, Chris Green, Tom Banton Auction purse left: 10.75 CR Slots available: 8 Overseas slots: 2
Ten uncapped Indians who could fetch big amount in the mini IPL auctions
After the conclusion of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) 2021, the next road for the Indian domestic players leads up to the IPL mini-auction which are scheduled to take place on 18th February 2021. The SMAT was a real testing ground and a lot of players showcased their brilliant talent and the names include the likes of Kings XI Punjab’s Prabhsimaran Singh, Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Siddarth Kaul, Chennai Super Kings’ Narayan Jagadeesan and R Sai Kishore. However, there were few performers who either haven’t got a team or have been released by theirs and yet performed brilliantly in the tournament to get noticed by the media as well as the scouts. Manimaran Siddarth Part of the Kolkata Knight Riders franchise, Manimaran Siddarth didn’t get a chance in front of more accomplished spinners like Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine and Kuldeep Yadav. Even in SMAT, he wasn’t given a chance until the Final. But once he got the opportunity, the slow left-arm bowler made sure that he doesn’t let go of the opportunity and picked up four wickets in just his first three overs to send chills down the Baroda batting lineup. He is not a big turner of the ball, the action is also clean and thus on Indian pitches, he could be a great prospect. Considering that he is just 22 years of age, teams might go for him as a future investment too. Vishnu Solanki The star of the SMAT without a doubt. He might not be the highest run-getter, neither the ost prolific hitter o the ball, but he scored when it mattered the most. From taking his team through the quarter-finals by scoring the last 16 runs in just three balls, to being there till then against all odds in the final against Tamil Nadu and making sure that his team reached a fighting total of 120, Solanki is the kind of middle-order batsman that every team would want to have. It’s not like he performed only in the knockouts, rather in the entire tournament he scored 367 runs in eight innings with an average of 53.40 and a healthy strike rate of more than 128. Moreover, Solanki, 28, has experience of playing on Indian pitches by his side, having made his T20 debut way back in 2013. In his entire career, he has scored 807 runs in 34 innings with an average of more than 35 and a strike rate touching 129. Mohammed Azharuddeen Although one-game sensation in the tournament as far as his heroics are concerned, but with that single performance only, Kerala’s Mohammaed Azharuddeen made everyone notice him. His 137* off 54 balls against an established side like Mumbai, in a televised game, meant that everybody took notice. Although he wasn’t able to back it up with more solid performances, still his potential to hit big is good enough to earn him a decent contract in the upcoming auctions. He scored a total 214 runs in five innings at an average of 53.50 and a strike rate of 194.54 in the entire SMAT 2021. The only thing that can go against him is his inconsistent nature of batting. Lukman Meriwala Another star for Baroda this season, Lukman Meriwala hit his best form, picking 15 wickets in eight games and turning out to be real match-winner in few of the games, winning matches singlehandedly with his performances with the ball. The semi-final against a star-studded Punjab batting lineup was once such game where he broke the back o the Punjab batting by picking the wickets of their two best batsmen in Prabhsimarn and Abhishek Sharma very early in the innings. While taking the 15 wickets, his average remained a brilliant 13.76 while his economy rate hovered around 6.5 which is exceptional for a fast bowler. With a best of 5/8 this 29-year-old left-arm pacer from Makan, Baroda packs a punch and should be a key prospect in the upcoming IPL auction, especially for teams looking for domestic pacers. Hari Nishanth Coming from the picturesque town of Ooty, Hari Nishanth is a beautiful hitter of the ball as he showcased in this edition of the SMAT, scoring 246 runs in eight innings with the best score of 92 unbeaten against Jharkhand. Initially, he was hitting the balls amazingly, but the form waned out a bit in the laster part of the tournament and that is the only thing that might go against the left-hander. Shahrukh Khan Another batsman from the this year’s SMAT winning team set up, Shahrukh Khan is different from the rest in the sense that he is a ‘see the ball hit the ball’ kind of batsman, who is most likely to be picked by teams as they are looking for such talents to inculcate in their team. Another thing that plays in his favour is that he is not inconsistent, meaning that id he gets an opportunity to bat, he makes sure that the opportunity is utilised. He showed a glimpse of it in the recently concluded SMAT as he remained not out in the three out of the four innings that he got to bat in. Shahrukh is a big hitter, a prolific finisher and someone who could roll his arm over as well, apart from being a brilliant fielder. A perfect package in a giant-sized man who shares his name with the biggest cine star of the present era, the Chennai born has his best shot at being picked in this year’s auction. Avi Barot The Gujarati, who found a place in Saurashtra team finally had a season to be proud of as after making his first-class debut in 2011 for Gujarat, he hadn’t really had a season where he could claim a spot in the team without an if or but. The 28-year old however made good use of his potential, scoring a scintillating century (122) against Goa apart from hitting a 44 ball 93 against Vidarbha. In total, he scored 383 runs in just five innings at an average of 56 and a strike rate of more than 184, the highest among the top five run-scorers in the SMAT 2021. Ashutosh Aman The one-man Army Bihar has been smashing records consistently but hasn’t git the reward he must have by now. After becoming the highest wicket-taker in a Ranji Trophy season, he has now topped the wickets chart in this year’s SMAT. Aman, 34, took 16 wickets in just six innings with an unbelievable average of 7.62 and an economy rate of 5.08. No doubt that he played most of his matches against Plate teams, but so did so many other players, yet he was the only one to come out on the top. It wasn’t only against Plate teams that he performed well, the left-arm orthodox bowler even did well against an established side like Rajasthan as well. The ball with which he took out the Rajasthan opener Bharat Sharma was one o the best deliveries of the tournament when a ball pitching on the middle stump just turned the right amount to pick the off stump shattering all the defences of a quality batter. Aman is no mug with the bat either as he has to his credit a century in first-class along with four fifties. The skipper of Bihar has 161 scalps in domestic cricket in just over three years of active competitive cricket, suggesting that he is hungry to perform well. Even after such record-breaking performances, he is not picked up by anyone, then it would be really unfortunate for him and Bihar cricket. Akash Deep Another one of those many talented cricketers who were born in Bihar but chose to play for a neighbouring state due to lack of infrastructure, Akash Deep is a great swing bowler from Bengal. He wasn’t at his best in this year’s SMAT he could pick only seven wickets in five games. But his one spell against the Hyderabad side showed what he is capable of doing as he picked 4/35 in this game. But this is not the only thing to make a case for himself in the IPL auction. Even in the last Ranji season, he picked 35 wickets to go along with his 15 wickets in the last year’s SMAT. Ankit Rajpoot Ankit Rajpoot already has a taste of IPL having played for the Royals in the last season and represented many teams over the last six seasons that he has played. He has 24 wickets in 29 IPL games and even after not being able to put in a great performance for the Uttar Pradesh unit in the SMAT 2021, chances are that he would be one o the highest-paid unpaid Indian stars. Having picked 101 wickets in 82 T20 games, he has experience on his side and hence is likely to be backed by franchises to be picked.
SMAT 2021: How Kerala lost the plot to get knocked out of the tournament
With 12 needed from the last over and a set Sachin Baby ( 66 off 34 balls), who alongside Salman Nazir scored 13 off Mohit Sharma in the last over, at the crease, facing a bowler (Arun Chaprana) who had already given 42 in his three overs in the game so far, and still the Kerala team is beaten by four runs in the match. Yes, it was that sort of a day at the office for Kerala, probably the most promising unit in the entire Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021. With this loss at the Wankhede, they were knocked out of the SMA Trophy 2021 as they ended with 12 points from five games, and Haryana, which beat Kerala and all the other teams in the Group-D qualified as the group topper. Kerala couldn’t even qualify as one of the two best second-placed teams in the elite groups because it lost to Andhra in its last encounter. Kerala, which chased a total of 196 and 212 against teams like Mumbai and Delhi failed to chase 199 against Haryana and could only make 112 against Andhra Pradesh, a side which was beaten easily by the likes of Delhi, Haryana, and even Pondicherry. The difference between the two big wins and the two losses was that in the two wins, the batsmen, who were settled, played throughout the innings to make sure that the team crossed the line. For example, Mohammed Azharuddeen banned throughout the game against Mumbai to get his team through while Uthappa got out on 95 against Delhi, only after making sure that Kerala wouldn’t lose from that situation. But in the game against Andhra, no batsman apart from Baby could connect the ball well and hence the scoreboard just ticked along, instead of racing away like it usually does in T20s. In this game against Haryana, skipper Samson and Baby did get starts, scoring a fifty each, but they just couldn't take their team across the line. And that was a big let down. In this game, chasing a total 198 set up by the Haryana team, even the opener Azharuddeen gotta start making 35 off just 25 balls, but couldn’t continue and repeat what he did against the Mumbai side For Haryana, Shivam Chauhan made 59 off 34 balls, before Rahul Tewatia finished it off in style by scoring 41 off 26 balls. Here is the Full Scorecard
SMA Trophy: Azharuddeen’s scintilating hundred rocks Mumbai; Chahar, Sakariya pick five-fors as Bisht smashes 17 sixes
It was a day of reckoning for Thalangara born 26-year-old Mohammed Azharuddeen of Kerala as he hit a scintillating hundred at Wankhede to virtually put Mumbai the giants of domestic cricket out of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021. On the back of his 54 balls 137, Kerala chased the target of 197 runs in just 15.5 overs. Azharuddeen on his way to this historic knock also became the first Keralite to score a hundred in a T20 game. He hit the century in just 37 balls, which was joint third fastest for an Indian batsman. Earlier in the evening, Mumbai had set a challenging total of 196 in 20 overs, which could have been more if not for KM Asif’s brilliant 20th over in which he picked up two wickets and gave away just two runs. Suryakumar Yadav scored a 19 ball 38 while the rest of the batsmen contributed too. This was Mumbai’s second loss in as many matches and it has now become exceedingly impossible for them to qualify to the knockouts as only one team from each group qualifies. The only chance for Mumbai would be to finish among the two second-best teams out of all elite groups, but for that to happen now, it will have to depend on the results of other teams. Brief Scores: Mumbai 196/7 in 20 overs (Aditya Tare-42, KM Asif 2/26) lose to Kerala 201/2 in 15.5 overs (Mohd. Azharuddeen-137 not out, Shams Mulani- 1/41) by eight wickets. Check Full Scorecard In another of the evening matches, Rahul Chahar of Rajasthan stole the show with the ball as he spun a web around the Madhya Pradesh batting lineup in the Holkar Stadium to down the hosts by 10 runs in a low scoring encounter. Chahar’s figures of 5/14 were the main reason as to why it became a mountain of a task for the MP brigade to chase down 149. The hosts could only make 138 in their designated 20 overs and eventually lost the game. Earlier Avesh Khan of MP had stopped Rajasthan batsmen from getting to a high score by taking four wickets for 22 runs. Mahipal Lomror however top-scored for the men from the desert as he scored a brilliant 27 ball 51 laced with four boundaries and three sixes. Brief Scores: Rajasthan 148/10 in 19.2 overs (Mahipal Lomror-51, Avesh Khan- 4/22) beat Madhya Pradesh138/8 in 20 overs (Parth Sahani 74, Rahul Chahar- 5/14) by 10 runs. Check Full Scorecard In the day games, Suarashtara thrashed Vidarbha by 79 runs handing the Central India team their second consecutive loss in the tournament. While Avi Baroit was the hero with the bat for Saurashtra scoring a 44 ball 93 runs, Chetan Sakaria shone with the ball picking 5/11. Brief Scores: Saurashtra 233/7 in 20 overs (Avi Barot-93, Darshan Nalkande- 4/32) beat Vidarbha 154/10 in 17.2 overs (Jitesh Sharma-43, Chetan Sakariya- 5/11) by 79 runs. Check Full Scorecard In another record-breaking game, Puneet Bisht of Meghalaya hit 17 sixes, the joint second highest in a T20 game and the highest for an Indian in a T20 game as he scored a career-best 141 not out of 51 balls to take Meghalaya to a huge total of 230/6 in 20 Overs. The highest number of sixes have been hit by the Universe Boss Chris Gayle who hit 18 sixes in a BPL game. Gayle has also hit 17 sixes in an IPL match. The Mizoram team had no answers whatsoever to this onslaught as they could muster only 100 runs in their 20 overs, giving Meghalaya a huge 130 runs win. Brief Scores: Meghalaya 230/6 in 20 overs (Puneet Bisht- 141 not out, Lalnunkima Varte- 2/45) beat Mizoram 100/9 in 20 overs (KB Pawan-33, Aditya Singhaniya- 4/15) by 130 runs. Check Full Scorecard In other Plate group games, Bihar beat Sikkim by eight wickets where skipper Ashutosh Aman shone with the ball with figures of 4/18 while Chandigarh was able to thrash Manipur by 110 runs, courtesy some brilliant batting by Shivam Bhambri and disciplined bowling Gurinder Singh and Bipul Sharma. In another game in Chennai, Rongsen Jonathan’s Nagaland defeated Arunachal Pradesh by nine wickets. Brief Scores: Sikkim 110/8 in 20 overs (Varun Sood- 28, Ashutosh Aman- 4/18) lose to Bihar 111/2 in 19.1 overs (Mangal Mahrour- 55, Anureet Singh- 1/20) by eight wickets. Check Full Scorecard Brief Scores: Arunachal Pradesh 145/6 in 20 overs (Techi Doria-36, Kievits- 1/19) lose to Nagaland 149/1 in 15.5 overs (Shrikant Mundhe- 69 not out, Nazeeb Saiyed- 1/28) by nine wickets. Check Full Scorecard Brief Scores: Chandigarh 178/5 in 20.0 overs (Shivam Bhambri- 56, Bishworjit Singh- 2/33) beat Manipur 68/8 in 20.0 overs (Thokchom Kishan-22, Gurinder Singh- 3/10) by 110 runs. Check Full Scorecard In the day games of Group E, Haryana defeated Puducherry while an all-round Delhi won over Andhra Pradesh at Wankhede. Elsewhere in Group D, Goa defeated Services in a closely fought match in Indore to put themselves on the points table with their first win. Brief Scores: Puducherry 148-4 in 20.0 overs (Sheldon Jackson 82, Arun Chaprana- 2/19) lose to Haryana 149-4 in 19.0 overs (Himanshu Rana- 58, Pankaj Singh- 2/31) by six wickets. Check Full Scorecard Brief Scores: Andhra 124-9 in 20.0 overs (Ashwin Hebbar-32, Pradeep Sangwan- 3/33) lose to Delhi 128-4 in 17.0 overs (Anuj Rawat-33, M Harishankar Reddy- 2/40) by six wickets. Check Full Scorecard Brief Scores: Services 160-7 in 20.0 overs (Ravi Chauhan- 62, Lakshay Garg- 2/25) closed to Goa 163-5 in 19.4 overs (Aditya Kaushik- 78, Mohit Kumar- 3/32) by five wickets. Check Full Scorecard