The highly anticipated auction for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 came to an end on Friday, December 23, in Kochi. A total of 80 players, including 29 international cricketers, were sold to the 10 franchises after a lot of drama and bidding wars on the auction table. The teams spent a total of 167 crore rupees during the mini-auction.
England all-rounder Sam Curran made history by turning into the most costly player ever in the Indian T20 association. He was purchased by his former team, the Punjab Kings (PBKS), for a staggering 18.50 crore rupees. In light of Curran’s accomplishments at the T20 World Cup 2022, the windfall is not surprising.
At the IPL 2023 auction, some cricketers were expected to be sold, but they weren’t. While many players get big deals every year, some cricketers unexpectedly don’t sell.
After the IPL 2023 auction, we examine three such players in the latter category in this feature.
#1 Dasun Shanaka
Dasun Shanaka is a highly underrated all-rounder in international cricket. He is the white-ball captain of Sri Lanka. When he was named captain of Sri Lanka at a time when he had not yet established himself as a player in ODIs or T20Is, there were a lot of eyebrows raised. Shanaka, on the other hand, has proven to be an extremely useful cricketer for the Lankans.
The 31-year-old is a hard-hitting hitter who has played a few superb appearances to rescue Sri Lanka from difficulty throughout the long term. From 173 T20 matches, he has a strike rate of over 140. Shanaka, who could have been used in the second innings, would have fit nicely into the Impact Player category in the IPL.
Additionally, he is a useful medium-pacer. It’s surprising that Shanaka didn’t sell at the IPL 2023 auction, considering that his base price is 50 lakh rupees.
#2 Sandeep Sharma
Sandeep Sharma is an experienced Indian medium-pacer who competes in the Indian Premier League. Since his 2013 debut, he has played 104 matches and taken 114 wickets at an economy rate of 7.77 and an average of 26.33. From 2014 to 2020, he played for both Sunrisers Hyderabad and Punjab Kings, and he took wickets in all of them.
However, his performance has deteriorated over the past few seasons. He only took three wickets in seven games in 2021, and he took two scalps in five games in 2022. However, the 29-year-old has recently been in good form in domestic cricket.
During the seven games he played for Chandigarh in the Ranji Trophy against Madhya Pradesh, he took 13 wickets and took seven wickets.
Sharma might have been a good budget buy at 50 lakhs, given that some of the franchises still had money left over.
#3 Saurabh Kumar
The Uttar Pradesh all-rounder Saurabh Kumar made headlines recently when he took 15 wickets for India A in the two-match unofficial Test series against Bangladesh A. Kumar scored 4/23 and 5/63 in the first game and 0/57 and 6/74 in the second. He even participated in the Indian Test team’s 2-0 victory over Bangladesh in the two-match series.
Kumar has taken 237 wickets in 54 first-class matches, a remarkable record. With the willow in hand, he has also scored 1776 runs, including two hundred. Additionally, the utility cricketer has a respectable T20 record. At an economy rate of 7.03 and a strike rate of close to 130, Kumar has claimed 24 wickets in 33 matches.
At the IPL 2021 auction, the Punjab Kings purchased the cricketer. In 2017, he was also a member of the Rising Pune Supergiants. However, he has not yet participated in a T20 league match. Kumar’s wait continues after the base price of Rs. 20 lakh was not met.