The Indian Premier League, which is the sporting festival of India, is set to expand its reach with the addition of two new city representatives. The 15th edition of the IPL is all set to be a ten-team tournament.
The mega-auction is expected to be held soon. Prior to that, the teams were asked by the BCCI to announce the retention list of the players. Many expected players were retained and some unexpected retentions also took place. All the teams need to rebuild their team starting from the openers to the tail-enders.
The openers play a crucial part in the batting lineup as the fate of the score after 20 overs is mainly based on the powerplay which takes place for the first six overs. Openers are likely to always go for a huge price in the auction. In the article, let’s take a look at-
Five openers who can be picked for a huge price in IPL 2022 mega auction
1. KL Rahul
The 29-year-old right-handed batsman is a powerful opener with his hard-hitting and classy style of batting. He was released by Punjab Kings during IPL 2022 retentions. The franchise could not finalize a deal with the Indian player and had to part ways with him ahead of IPL 2022 mega auction.
KL Rahul led Punjab Kings in the last two seasons and executed an impeccable batting performance for the team. He was the highest run-getter in IPL 2020 scoring a mammoth 670 runs in 14 matches at a mighty average of 55.
The classy opener was the 3rd highest run-scorer in IPL 2021 with 626 runs. He has become one of the most consistent openers in recent times. Most teams will look out for him as he also comes with the package of wicketkeeping and captaining. He’s all set to trigger a bidding war.
2. David Warner
One of the most successful openers in IPL history, David Warner had a dream run with SRH after joining the franchise in 2014. He piled up 414 runs for them, and also excelled on the captaincy front. SRH’s only IPL-winning captain so far, Warner, had led them to title glory in 2016.
Despite the tremendous run with the SRH, he was sacked from captaincy and dropped from the playing XI during the 2021 season. He won the orange cap in 2019 with 692 runs with an unbelievable average of 69.1 and he also won it in 2015 and 2017. Warner also went on to score a humongous 848 runs in 2016 which helped them lift the trophy.
Despite his struggles in IPL 2021, Warner made a terrific comeback in T20 World Cup 2021 and scored 289 runs, and was adjudged the player of the tournament. So he could be in the plans of many of the IPL franchises as a few teams need a new captain.
3. Shubman Gill
The young Indian opener Shubman Gill was not retained by his debut team Kolkata Knight Riders. He was bought in 2018 and has been their constant opener since then. He is seen as a future prospect of Indian batting.
The 22-year-old batter has played 58 matches and has scored 1417 runs with an average of 31.48. He is a nice stroke player and has a strike rate of 123. Gill scored 478 runs last season and was their highest run-scorer.
Gill was expected to be retained by KKR for his consistent service for them, but he was left out for the mega auction. He earned 1.8 crore rupees in the previous seasons and will be an expensive buy in the mega auction as he would be groomed more and more in the future.
4. Shikhar Dhawan
One of the most underrated players in the IPL is Shikhar Dhawan. He is one of the best players and he stands second with most runs in this arduous league. He has played for Delhi Daredevils, Mumbai Indians, Deccan Chargers, Sunrisers Hyderabad, and Delhi Capitals.
‘The Gabbar’ has played a total of 192 matches and has hit 5784 runs with an average of 34.84 and a strike rate of 126.64. He had the best of his seasons in 2020 where he scored 618 runs which are his personal highest in a season and in 2021, he finished fourth on the orange cap list with 587 runs.
In the list of the orange cap, he finished fourth in 2019, second in 2020, and fourth in 2021. Though being their highest run-getter in all his blue appearances, he has not been retained by the Delhi franchise. Dhawan is an experienced campaigner and is very fit for his age. He will attract expensive bids in this mega auction for his stature.
5. Quinton De Kock
Quinton De Kock stepped into this league first time in 2013 for Sunrisers Hyderabad. After having a bad season, he was bought by Delhi Daredevils and represented them in three seasons. In 2018, he played for Royal Challengers Bangalore.
The Proteas player was traded to Mumbai Indians in 2018 and his IPL career took an amelioration after that. He was effective in the front for the team and was good with his keeping skills too. De Kock was the highest run-scorer of the team in 2019 and helped them to their third title.
The southpaw played a key role in both the trophy lifting seasons of Mumbai in 2019 and 2020. On playing 77 IPL matches, he has hit 2256 runs with a strike rate of 130.93. He comes with the package of wicket keeping and has captained the Proteas before, so might be a good captaincy material too. Hence, he will be a big fish under the mega auction.
from CricTracker https://ift.tt/3DzPO8e
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