Published: Feb 17, 2015, 12:45 PM (IST)
Edited: Feb 17, 2015, 12:45 PM (IST)
In the Indian Premier League (IPL) Auction 2015 on Monday, almost 88 players went on the hammer, where their future team were decided. While some of the veterans such as Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene were ignored for multiple purposes, few other players made headlines, for being selected for either small price or for getting sold for whopping prices. Sudatta Mukherjee discusses five players to look out for in IPL 2015.
It came as a shock for many cricket lovers when the senior trio of Hashim Amla, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene went unsold in the IPL 2015 Auction. However, such scenes are not unbelievable or surprising anymore. If analysed closely, Jayawardene and Sangakkara have announced retirement from international Twenty20 (T20). On the other hand, Amla does not have an appealing statistics to be selected. In T20 cricket, his figures are following:
| Format | M | R | Highest Score | Avg | SR | 100s | 50s |
| T20Is | 26 | 600 | 56 | 25 | 122.44 | 0 | 1 |
| Twenty20 | 74 | 1950 | 88* | 29.1 | 123.41 | 0 | 11 |
For an experienced player, who has played 108 One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and 82 Tests, the T20 numbers are not desirable. There were few cricketers whose selection forced cricket fans to take the help of Google couple of times in the day. And surprisingly, it was very tough to find some of them on the biggest search engine on the internet.
Following are the five players to look out for in IPL 2015:
Shreyas Iyer – The Mumbai Ranji Trophy player is already popular in the domestic circle. With a batting average revolving around 54 in both First-Class and List A, Shreyas Iyer was bought by Delhi Daredevils (DD) for Rs 2.60 crores compared to a base price of Rs 10 lakhs. He has already hit 153 and an unbeaten 142 in what can be said a poor Ranji 2014-15 season for Mumbai. The right-hand batsman has played only three T20 matches so far, so not much can be commented about his skills in the shortest format of the game. Riding on his current form, a lot can be expected from the 20-year-old, who has also represented India in the Under-19 World Cup. Full list of players bought by Mumbai Indians
Gurinder Sandhu – The Australian bowler has already been in the news for some time, since he became the first player of Indian origin to play in the Australian national team. However, his antics go past into March 2013, when he was voted the Australian Cricketers’ Association player of the month. If one can go back to the 2012 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup, one will remember Sandhu tormenting the batsmen in the tournament. He picked up 10 wickets from six matches that he played. Sandhu had a bowling average of 18.60 and an economy rate of 3.47. The 21-year-old will provide strength to the Delhi Daredevils’ bowling, along with Nathan Coulter-Nile and Mohammed Shami. Delhi Daredevils bought him for Rs. 1.70 crore compared to a base price of Rs. 30 lakhs. Full list of players bought by Delhi Daredevils
Sarfaraz Khan – The young 17-year-old has been making headline since 2009. In that year, he scored 439 for Rizvi Springfield School in Harris Shield match, breaking past records. Not only that, later on in 2013, he picked up four wickets in an Under-19 match to guiding India to victory against Sri Lanka. Among the many talents emerging from Mumbai, who has been under immense limelight in the past few years, Sarfaraz was picked up by Mumbai in their Ranji Trophy squad this year. It will be not only a great moment for the Mumbai lad, but also for his father Naushad, who has been the inspiration and force behind the success of his two sons, one being Sarfaraz and the other being Musheer Khan. Full list of players bought by Royal Challengers Bangalore
Kane Williamson – One of the strongest and consistent One-Day International (ODI) players in the world currently, Kane Williamson has figures that many would like to flaunt. Recently, when Brendon McCullum was told that young kids in New Zealand dream of becoming cricketers like him, he replied that they should dream of becoming Williamson. McCullum also added that Williamson will be one of New Zealand’s greatest-ever batsmen. In the last 15 ODI innings that Williamson has played, his scores are somewhat like this – 57, 112, 54, 97, 26, 103, 15, 97, 123, 46, 70 not out, 10, 88, 60 and 65. In his last Test he scored 69 and an unbeaten 242. Compared to his First-Class and List A figures, his T20 figures might not be as exhibiting. However, keeping his recent form in mind, Williamson will be undoubtedly one of the favourites in the coming IPL 2015 edition. Full list of players bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad
KC Cariappa – When the Bijapur Bulls bowler was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for Rs. 2.40 crores the question on everyone’s mind was, “Who is this guy?”. Google showed amusing, and confusing results. On further investigation, it was found that the 20-year-old played Karnataka Premier League 2014-15 and his stats were something like this:
| Matches | Wickets | Bowl Avg | Eco Rate | Best Figures |
| 6 | 11 | 12 | 6 | 4/19 |
Apparently, Cariappa was part of the KKR net bowlers during the Champions League T20 2014 (CLT20 2014). He was spotted by the KKR video analyst and the team management asked Cariappa to put his name in IPL auctions. Not only that, one of Cariappa’s wicket in KPL 2014-15 was Manish Pandey. It is really interesting to see how this mystery bowler fares in IPL 2015, who is said to have bowling action similar to Sunil Narine and Ajantha Mendis! Full list of players bought by Kolkata Knight Riders
There are many more players such as David Weise and Sean Abbott, who will keep the audience on their toes till they come out to play in IPL 2015. But till then, all that people can do is enjoy some ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 action.
Full list of players bought by Chennai Super Kings
Full list of players by Kings XI Punjab
Full list of players bought by Rajasthan Royals
(Sudatta Mukherjee is a reporter with CricketCountry. Other than writing on cricket, she spends penning random thoughts on her blog. When she is not writing, you will catch her at a movie theatre or watching some English television show on her laptop. Her Twitter handle is @blackrosegal)
