IPL 2022: Mouth-watering contests on cards once dust settles on auctions

At the end of the bids, the knowns are good enough for the fans to deliberate which teams are best on paper

Imagine the fiery Jofra Archer serving up chin music to batsmen from one end, followed by searing yorkers from Jasprit Bumrah from the other. A new ball pair as lethal as one can dream of is not a figment of imagination for the formidable franchise, Mumbai Indians (MI), that has ad­ded more arrows to its quiver for the lat­est edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Now imagine Archer and Bumrah facing off against K L Rahul and Quinton de Kock as openers for the debutante franchise Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). If Bumrah errs a wee bit, Rahul can caress the cherry with a glance or a flick to the fine leg boundary. If the pacer hits his mark, the batter finds the furniture behind him dismantled.

The 2022 Indian Premier League (IPL) could dish out many such mouth-watering duels after the dust settled with the weekend auction on Sunday that gave us a preview of what’s in store. But luck will play its part. Archer is nursing an elbow injury and, with some luck, could be only available in the latter half of the tournament provided there is an April 2-June 3 schedule in place, which sources confirm at this point, Covid-19 notwithstanding.

But MI, Rajasthan Royals (RR) and of course the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) know more. Else, why would Archer’s previous franchise, RR, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SH) and MI which eventually bagged him, go for broke offering no less than Rs 8 crore?

Optimists can safely expect Bumrah and Archer in action a year before the

2023 edition.

Archer, however, wasn’t the biggest buy in monetary terms on day two of the auction. 

After Ishan Kishan made waves on day one, Saturday, with MI bidding for him for Rs 15.25 crore, followed by Chennai Super Kings going all out for Deepak Chahar for Rs 14 crore, it was his England teammate, the hard-hitting Liam Livingstone, for whom Punjab Kings coughed up Rs 11.5 crore, his 42-ball century vs Pakistan last July 2021 — the fastest by an Englishman still fresh in the franchise’s memory.

If the kind of money on offer wasn’t sur­­prising enough, to whom it was offered doubled the excitement. Mumbai, at it again, splurged Rs 8.2 crore for the virtually unknown Tim David of Singapore (his hard-hitting prowess was on show during Australia’s Big Bash League and the Pak­i­s­tan Super League recently). And then, there was Romario Shepherd going to Sun­risers for a whopping Rs 7.75 crore. His CV as a burly West Indian who bowls fast-me­d­ium and hits the ball out of the park are Caribbean credentials suited for the IPL.

What about the young guns then? India has just won the Under-19 World Cup. All-rounder Raj Angad Bawa, who had helped his cause with a 168 in the U-19 WC against Uganda followed by a five-wicket haul and a fifty in the final against England, went to Punjab for Rs 2 crore, while all-rounder Rajvardhan Hangargekar would now be under the wings of IPL legend M S Dhoni at Chennai Super Kings for Rs 1.5 crore.

After a rollicking Saturday, Sunday was comparatively dull. At the end of the auction, the knowns are good enough for the fans to deliberate which teams are best on paper.

Rohit Sharma’s Mumbai could be fav­ourites again, but the well-oiled Chennai machine will be tough to beat on any day. RR and the Delhi Capitals might have made cerebral choices, but the Royal Cha­llengers Bangalore may finally get it right as they have Faf du Plessis (at Rs 7 crore, perhaps as captain) to steer the ship with Virat Kohli and Glenn Maxwell in the absence of A B de Villiers. Kolkata Knight Riders will have the X-factor in Shreyas Iyer as possible skipper for going one step further than being finalists in 2021. Newbies LSG and the Gujarat Titans have made some smart choices but could find the going tough. The ageing Suresh Raina not finding a buyer and Ajinkya Rahane going to KKR for Rs 1 crore was largely expected but it would come as a dampener for some.

The pieces are in place. And pawns, knights, bishops and “Kings” are in order, ready to make the opening gambit.