The two-day IPL 2022 Mega Auction ended on February 13 night in Bangalore, with all ten franchises finalising their squad for the forthcoming season.
Indian cricketers Ishan Kishan and Deepak Chahar, who were bought on Day 1, ended the bidding war with the wealthiest contracts, while the likes of David Warner, Quinton de Kock, and Kagiso Rabada emerged the biggest steals at their prizes.
Kishan bagged a contract worth INR 15.25 crores to be back with his team Mumbai Indians for IPL 2022. Similarly, Chennai Super Kings brought their pace allrounder Deepak back in the camp for a whopping sum of INR 14 crores. Making the winning bid after a highly intense set of bidding from multiple teams, MI and CSK regained the two players they were forced to release at the end of IPL 2021.
Talking of the highest bid players, Kolkata Knight Riders, who were eyeing a new captaincy candidate, made a winning bid of INR 12.25 crores for Indian middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer, who previously played for Delhi Capitals.
KKR also regained their premier quick Pat Cummins for a sum of INR 7.25 crores. While Cummins, who leads Australia in Tests, could also be an option, it is believed KKR will be appointing Iyer at the helm after releasing England’s Eoin Morgan despite them reaching the final of IPL 2021 under his captaincy.
Without a doubt, Warner and De Kock proved to be the biggest steals of the IPL 2022 mega auction and perhaps the top buys in a cricketing sense. Expected to fetch a huge sum at the bidding war, Warner and De Kock went to DC and Lucknow Super Giants for sums of INR 6.25 and 6.75 crores, respectively.
The two major inclusions allow the two franchises to form a strong opening partnership. While Warner is likely to join forces with fellow explosive player Prithvi Shaw, De Kock will be standing firm at the top alongside Lucknow captain KL Rahul.
But inarguably, the most interesting bid of the auction was on show when MI bought England pacer Jofra Archer for INR 8 crores. The franchise waited a long time and reserved their money for Player No.171 Archer in order to avail his services for the better part of the new three-year cycle despite him not taking part in IPL 2022.
MI got Archer even as he continues his rehab work for an elbow issue, with the idea that he could form a lethal bowling pair with Jasprit Bumrah for 2023 and 2024 editions of the IPL.
MI also made Singapore-born Tim David the highest bid associate pick of the auction, getting him for 8.25 crores. The middle-order bat has risen rapidly up the ranks among batters in leagues around the world and now enters the biggest T20 carnival of them for the most successful franchise.
Among the rest of the players, Wanindu Hasaranga (RCB), Shardul Thakur (DC), Nicholas Pooran (SRH), Harshal Patel (RCB) bagged an equally high sum of INR 10.75 crores. Liam Livingstone of England went to Punjab Kings for INR 11.25 crores, where he will be joined by Jonny Bairstow for 6.25 crores – another notable steal at the auction.
Haryana allrounder Rahul Tewatia ended up as the second-highest bid uncapped Indian cricketer, bagging a contract worth INR 9 crores with Gujarat Titans. Rahul Tripathi, the former KKR batter, became the third-highest bid player in the uncapped category when SRH made a winning bid of INR 8.5 crores. The wealthiest uncapped Indian pick was pacer Avesh Khan, who went to Lucknow Super Giants for 10 crores.
Backed by proper scouting structures, all ten IPL franchises showed huge interest in the uncapped category of players and made some really impressive picks among the promising young cricketers, including a return of Sachin Tendulkar’s son Arjun to MI’s camp for INR 30 lakhs.
