It’s that time of the year where franchises have started preparing for the auction ahead of IPL 2021. The list of retained players and those traded has already been submitted to the main governing body, BCCI and thus, the picture appears more or less clear with respect to the players that will be available for purchase. Unlike what we witnessed at IPL 2020, only a few players have been traded this time around and teams were more than happy to release them rather than take the other option.
While those traded weren’t a surprise, a few, who were either retained or released were and that has indeed changed the dynamics of the upcoming auction. Plenty of buying is expected at the mini-auction as teams look to build a strong squad, abundant in all the departments and favourable for all the conditions. In the below piece, we look at 5 players, who were part of IPL 2020 and should have been traded ahead of IPL 2021:
1. Tom Curran
A pacer turned all-rounder, Curran has emerged as a quality T20 player every team craves for. He did a wonderful job for RR at IPL 2020 in the limited chances that he got and filled in nicely for his fellow English all-rounder, Ben Stokes.
While all were aware of his effective pace bowling at the start of an innings and at the death, the aspect that he could tong the ball too far distances was on show throughout the season and many times helped RR in escaping the awful consequences of a batting collapse.
His newly developed batting skill can surely fetch him a bid at the upcoming auction, a chance to cement his place in the respective side. Curran has scored 106 runs from 10 games at an average of 26.5 and strike rate of 117.78 and picked 9 wickets at an average of 36.22 and economy rate of 11.51 at the IPL.
2. Keemo Paul
One of the current generation Windies player tailor-made for the T20 format, Paul’s release from the DC side came as a shock to cricket experts and fanatics. Though South African pace duo of Rabada and Nortje are the first choice pacers to feature in the side, Paul’s esteemed presence as a reserve would have done a world of good to the chances of DC in IPL 2021.
With the tournament to be contested in India itself, the all-rounder’s clever change of pace and variations would have come handy on the slow and dry pitches of India, reaping the desired rewards.
His finishing skills with the bat coming lower down the order is an added benefit and there is no doubt that Paul might invite a bidding war at the auction table. The medium-pacer has scalped 9 wickets from 8 games at an average of 26.33 and economy rate of 8.72 at the IPL.
3. Kuldeep Yadav
Inspite of him being retained given his international experience and variety that he brings with his ‘Chinaman’, the chances of Kuldeep featuring in the starting XI are near to none. The presence of Tamil Nadu’s mystery spinner, Chakravarthy and Windies spin maestro, Narine kept him out of contention at IPL 2020 and the trend is bound to continue in the forthcoming season as well.
Kuldeep himself is responsible for his unfortunate fate at the world’s most lucrative league, who has found it difficult to pick wickets and instead vanished for plenty of runs in his given quota of overs.
It would have been better for Kuldeep and KKR as well to trade the wrist spinner and allow him to flourish for some other franchise in desperate need of a quality spin option. The leg-spinner has dismissed 40 batsmen from 45 games at an average of 30.9 and an economy rate of 8.28 in his IPL career so far.
4. Mujeeb-Ur-Rahman
This mystery spinner from Afghanistan, who was in fine form in the ongoing BBL 10 was surprisingly released by KXIP ahead of the next season. With the talks going around for only a limited number of venues and that too in Mumbai and neighbouring cities like Pune, the decision might just come to haunt the men from Punjab.
As said, Mujeeb was in the form of his life turning up for the Heat at BBL 10, who picked 14 wickets from 8 games at an economy rate of 6.27 and average of 13.40. While he smashed 21 runs from 2 innings at an average of 10.50 and strike rate of 161.54.
He indeed turned everything into gold with his Midas touch and thus, franchise owners are eagerly waiting to pick him at the auction. The spinner has dismissed 17 wickets from 18 IPL games at an average of 33.12 and economy rate of 8.24.
5. Shivam Dube
A tall all-rounder from Mumbai, Dube’s release came as a shocker to the cricketing world, who could not believe that RCB had made such a tough call. Being picked at the auction for IPL 2019, the year didn’t pan out the way the cricketer would have liked.
Since then, things have changed drastically for Dube, who made his India debut and put up decent performances for RCB at IPL 2020. The youngster struck 169 runs from 15 games at an average of 16.9 and strike rate of 122.46 and dismissed 4 batsmen at an average of 20.25 and economy rate of 7.59.
Given his all-round abilities and calibre to change the course of the game in a matter of few overs, Dube is expected to earn a high bid at the upcoming auction, even becoming the costliest Indian player to be bought at the mini-auction ahead of IPL 2021.
