Every 3 years all teams in the Indian Premier League (T20 Cricket) are dissolved and get a chance (or suffer the ignominy) of having to rebuilt their teams again ! The year 2014 is the year when the auction had to take place and it took place at the time of writing this article. Now while teams like Delhi Daredevils. Kings XI Punjab will be welcoming the opportunity to rework their teams, teams like Chennai Superkings, Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians will be regretting to let go of players who contributed to their successful campaigns last year.
Rajasthan Royals was represented on the auction table by cricketing legend Rahul Dravid, Manoj Badale and company. On Day 1 of the players auction, they bought players like Tim Southee, Kane Richardson, Ben Cutting, Abhishek Nayyar apart from retaining Brad Hodge. It was irritating for a Royals fan to observe how every player for whom the Royals would start bidding for would be chased by the other teams (probably taking after the fact that Royals are really good team builders and choose good team players). Another thing which I found interesting was that the teams with which Rahul Dravid's friends and former colleagues, VVS Laxman (Hyderabad Sunrisers) & Anil Kumble (Mumbai Indians), were associated were often bidding for the same player. Talk about similarity in opinions, huh ?!
Rajasthan Royals was represented on the auction table by cricketing legend Rahul Dravid, Manoj Badale and company. On Day 1 of the players auction, they bought players like Tim Southee, Kane Richardson, Ben Cutting, Abhishek Nayyar apart from retaining Brad Hodge. It was irritating for a Royals fan to observe how every player for whom the Royals would start bidding for would be chased by the other teams (probably taking after the fact that Royals are really good team builders and choose good team players). Another thing which I found interesting was that the teams with which Rahul Dravid's friends and former colleagues, VVS Laxman (Hyderabad Sunrisers) & Anil Kumble (Mumbai Indians), were associated were often bidding for the same player. Talk about similarity in opinions, huh ?!
One of the biggest players, as per me, whom the Royals lost out on was Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell. The Royals started bidding for him as initially it started to look like no one was going to bid for him (Richard Madley, the auctioneer, had to call out several times before receiving the first bid) but then it was hijacked by Mumbai Indians and King XI Punjab. But no hard feelings on my part as Mumbai Indians (or rather may I say moneybags) lost out to Kings XI Punjab.
Another big name we lost out due to hostile bidding was Nathan Coulter-Nile (a very consistent fast bowler from Australia). I thought that we did miss a trick or two by not bidding for Murali Kartik and Johan Botha (who has played for the Royals earlier) both of whom are all-rounders. I also felt that we could've got one of the Pathan brothers into our stable as we desperately need one person in the lower middle order who can 'tonk' the bowler out of the stadium in the death overs.
But, apparently Rahul Dravid has preffered to go for players who have got sound cricketing techniques. Apparently, the new captain, Shane Watson's imprint on the team selection can be seen in the team when we see likes of Steven Smith and Ben Cutting in the new Royals Line-Up.
The selection of Kane Richardson and Tim Southee (who is a decent opening fast bowler) are interesting selections and only time will tell how well do their selections augur for the outcome of the Royals IPL campaign.
The selection of Abhishek Nayar was interesting because he, while being the only left hander in the squad right now, is not such a great batsman. He is more of a player who get 15-20 runs in a match and then gets out.
Rajasthan Royals will have their hands full on Day 2 of the auction as they need to ensure that they get Siddharth Trivedi (Yes ! Even after all the controversies he was embroiled in the last year because he is a vital cog in the Rajasthan Royals bowling machinery), Praveen Tambe, Ashok Menaria and Dishant Yagnik in the squad.
In the end I have to express my surprise at the manner in which Rajasthan Royals have tried to spend their money (they actually tried to !) because they are notoriously low – spenders in auctions and it is often suspected that the minimum spending amount in the auction has been set up by the authorities keeping the Rajasthan Royals in mind.
Another big name we lost out due to hostile bidding was Nathan Coulter-Nile (a very consistent fast bowler from Australia). I thought that we did miss a trick or two by not bidding for Murali Kartik and Johan Botha (who has played for the Royals earlier) both of whom are all-rounders. I also felt that we could've got one of the Pathan brothers into our stable as we desperately need one person in the lower middle order who can 'tonk' the bowler out of the stadium in the death overs.
But, apparently Rahul Dravid has preffered to go for players who have got sound cricketing techniques. Apparently, the new captain, Shane Watson's imprint on the team selection can be seen in the team when we see likes of Steven Smith and Ben Cutting in the new Royals Line-Up.
The selection of Kane Richardson and Tim Southee (who is a decent opening fast bowler) are interesting selections and only time will tell how well do their selections augur for the outcome of the Royals IPL campaign.
The selection of Abhishek Nayar was interesting because he, while being the only left hander in the squad right now, is not such a great batsman. He is more of a player who get 15-20 runs in a match and then gets out.
Rajasthan Royals will have their hands full on Day 2 of the auction as they need to ensure that they get Siddharth Trivedi (Yes ! Even after all the controversies he was embroiled in the last year because he is a vital cog in the Rajasthan Royals bowling machinery), Praveen Tambe, Ashok Menaria and Dishant Yagnik in the squad.
In the end I have to express my surprise at the manner in which Rajasthan Royals have tried to spend their money (they actually tried to !) because they are notoriously low – spenders in auctions and it is often suspected that the minimum spending amount in the auction has been set up by the authorities keeping the Rajasthan Royals in mind.
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