IPL 2023: Predicting 5 most expensive players ahead of upcoming auction

Ever since BCCI announced the date of the 16th edition of the IPL auction, there’s a sense of buzz in the air and the prediction game is once again doing the rounds on social media. Come December 23, a lot of strategies can change as all the teams are currently monitoring various players who can create a difference in the upcoming season.

Ahead of the next season, defending champions Gujarat Titans (GT) have let their star pacer, Lockie Ferguson leave for Kolkata Knight Riders while Sunrisers Hyderabad and Punjab Kings don’t have a designated skipper. On the other hand, all the all-rounders will be in demand as teams like Chennai Super Kings, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), and Rajasthan Royals need some to revamp their squads.

On top of that, mini-auctions have lately given birth to a lot of ‘rags to riches’ stories. Varun Chakravarthy had a base price of INR 20 lakhs in IPL 2020 but was sold for INR 4 crore. Similarly, the Proteas all-rounder Chris Morris was the costliest buy at the IPL auction after Rajasthan Royals spent INR 16.25 crore in the 2021 edition of the auction.

Even in the 2023 edition, franchises are likely to splurge a lot of money as teams like Sunrisers Hyderabad (INR 42.25 crore) and Punjab Kings (INR 32.20 crore) have a lot of money remaining in their purse to buy their desired cricketers and build a fresh team.

Meanwhile, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) (INR 20.45 crore), Delhi Capitals (DC) (INR 19.45 crore), GT (INR 19.25 crore), LSG (INR 23.35 crore) and Mumbai Indians (INR 20.55 crore) will look forward to filling the holes in their squads at the auction. 

Thus, the players are definitely going to earn a healthy amount of money, and here’s our prediction of the cricketers who can get the maximum bid at the auction.

Predicting 5 most expensive players at auction

5. Jason Holder

Playing for the Lucknow Super Giants in the 15th edition of the Indian Premier League, Jason Holder picked up 14 wickets in 12 matches at an economy of 9.42. Now, even though he couldn’t do much with the bat, Holder remains to be a threat and can wreak havoc in the final overs of the match.

The all-rounder was sold at INR 8.75 crore and it is expected that he will once again be among the highest-paid cricketers in the next IPL. It is assumed that the LSG management released him in order to sign other all-rounders but in case they fail to get their hands on the likes of Ben Stokes, Sam Curran or Cameron Green, they might once again bid for the star from the Caribbean.

When it comes to his recent form, the 31-year-old picked up five wickets at the T20 World Cup 2022 and scored 42 runs but his performance was below par in the recently concluded Test series against Australia. Nevertheless, the teams are likely to break the bank in order to sign him based on his experience.