Insiders share their views on surprising IPL snubs

By Sameer Allana

Updated - 08 Feb 2016, 14:56 IST

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3 Min Read

The IPL auction in Bengaluru attracted many stalwarts and youngsters. But it also brought up some shocking omissions and picks. While many uncapped players like Pawan Negi, Karun Nair, Murugan Ashwin attracted big chunks, marquee T20 players like Martin Guptill, Usman Khawaja and Darren Sammy went unsold in the auction.

While Martin Guptill has been one of the best batsmen in recent times for the Kiwis, Usman Khawaja showed his masterclass in the recently concluded BBL. Some other big names that missed out included Mahela Jayawardene, Hussey brothers & George Bailey.

“I think teams had very clear strategies at the top order. Almost every team had a settled opening pair. We, too, had Faf du Plessis and then bought Kevin Pietersen and Steven Smith. However good these players were we couldn’t accommodate them in our plans. Khawaja was really unlucky not to have been picked by any team.” the CEO of the Rising Pune Supergiants was quoted by ESPNcricinfo saying.
He also felt that the franchisees have shown maturity by going only for the players they want rather than spending big bucks on big names. “Even in this auction they have been a lot more rational with their prices on foreign players. They went all out only for the players they wanted. In Shane Watson, RCB got the allrounder they wanted, likewise we went for Mitchell Marsh and Delhi for Chris Morris. These are sureshot picks in the playing XI.”
“The Indian boys, on the other hand, have gone for a lot of money. It’s sometimes difficult to predict the auction dynamics, but it augurs well for the Indian boys.”

He also said that a good lot of player were unlikely to be bid for given the nature of the auction itself. “It’s a mini-auction with most teams going into it with a settled core already. Of course, in our case we had to build our entire squad and we are quite satisfied with we bought. But settled teams like MI or KKR were looking for back-ups and to plug a few holes here and there.”

One of the franchise’s mentor pointed out that it was needless to pick up players if the teams were not going to play them. “If you look at Sunrisers Hyderabad, they have Warner and Dhawan, Mumbai Indians have Lendl Simmons and Parthiv. You don’t want a class player like Guptill or Khawaja to sit out the entire season.”

A member of the coaching staff of franchise, however, said some players were not in the wishlist of teams because of their relative ineffectiveness in Indian conditions: “How much of Guptill’s performances are inside New Zealand and how much outside? There were doubts about his adaptability in Indian conditions. Even Stephen Fleming didn’t go for him.”

There were also debates over Bailey’s ouster since he was good enough to make it to the King XI Punjab only as a batsman and his recent form was a sublime proof of that. However an IPL insider revealed, “They might have thought that having him as captain blocked a slot for another foreign player, like Shaun Marsh, These things matter a great deal too.”

By Hitman Cricket

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IPL 2025Usman KhawajaMartin Guptill

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