IPL 2020: 5 players who got overpaid in the auction

It’s been nearly two days since the IPL auction for the 2020 edition got wrapped up, but it still manages to be one of the biggest talking points. Nevertheless, the number of surprises this auction threw to the supporters was a little too much to take in, but most teams ended up being satisfied with what they got.

Pat Cummins fetched the biggest bid for a foreigner in the history, whilst the likes of Sheldon Cottrell and Shimron Hetmyer went for a hefty price as well. Some notable young talents from the Indian domestic circuit like Sumit Kumar and Rohan Kadam going unsold left a lot of fans surprised, but considering a fact that this is a smaller auction with a big one coming up next year, it is understandable.

Courtesy of some desperate interest from more than one team, sometimes teams end up paying way more for a few players, which happened in the IPL on numerous occasions.

Here are five such instances from the recently-concluded auction in Kolkata:

1. Pat Cummins (KKR)

The biggest talking point of this season’s auction, Australian speedster Pat Cummins ended up receiving a whopping INR 15.5 Crore contract, making his bid the second-best of all time in IPL history, the best among foreign players going past Ben Stokes’ INR 14.5 Crore in 2017. Many touted him to be the focal point of this auction, the bidding war didn’t disappoint.

Having said that, Cummins hasn’t done a great job in the IPL having represented the Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Capitals previously. His prowess in the death overs, especially in this format, has been a bit bleak, which puts up different questions for Dinesh Karthik as to who will the death bowler be, in case of a failure from Cummins.

With due respect to the Australian who has improved outrageously in the last four years, Cummins was a victim of one too many teams wanting him. The pricetag means that he will under the spotlight pretty much every game and will be scrutinized for every move he performs. Besides Ben Stokes in 2017, no player who received more than INR 12 Crore in the auction has proven his worth, another stat which doesn’t support the fast bowler.

2. Chris Morris (RCB)

It seemed like the Royal Challengers Bangalore nearly had Pat Cummins in their line-up for the coming edition when Delhi backed out of the bid at INR 14.5 Crore. In came the Knight Riders out of nowhere to snap the fast bowler, which disappointed the RCB camp as they really wanted to get the Australian onboard and boost their bowling lineup.

Since they failed to get a marquee fast bowler, they went all-out for another proven death bowling specialist in Chris Morris. The South African did a great job for the Delhi Capitals a couple of seasons ago and is a major threat with the bat as well. Having said that, besides the recent MSL exploits, he hasn’t been at his best and INR 10 Crore seems a little too much.

Morris could solve their problems big time, the South African definitely has it in him to pull out some big performances. But just the way the club looked a little confused with their main picks in most auctions, they once again were not fortunate to get their number one target and ended up paying a very hefty amount for their number 2.

3. Piyush Chawla (CSK)

One of the four cricketers in IPL history to have picked up 150 wickets, Piyush Chawla has a proven record in the tournament and it left a few of the Kolkata fans shocked to see him leave. But the Knight Riders clearly wanted some fresh and young blood and to accommodate that, they had to part ways with the leg-spinner.

It was evident that the experience and statistics he has garnered over the years will induce a bidding way, but no one expected him to go for a whopping INR 6.75 Crore. It’d be fair to say, he’s well past his glory days and despite being just 31, fitness has been a slight issue. But the CSK management have clear goals and they know how he’d fit into their system effectively.

They wish to accommodate a foreign speedster in place of Imran Tahir, which means Chawla will be their main leg-spinner. Chawla spent most of his time playing a second-fiddle to Sunil Narine at the Knight Riders and it’ll be interesting to see if he can rise up to the new challenge that’s in front of him.

4. Varun Chakravarthy (KKR)

A talent scouted from the Tamil Nadu Premier League, who impressed Dinesh Karthik and Ravichandran Ashwin a lot, Varun Chakravarthy did make some headlines even before the last auction, but no one expected him to bag a contract worth INR 8.4 Crore. The amount spent on him by Kings XI Punjab shocked everyone and he was the new talking point.

As it turned out, he played just 1 game for Punjab last season and consequently, he was allowed to head back into the auction. Varun Chakravarthy, for many Indian fans, is still an unknown commodity and it surprised them furthermore when he induced yet another bidding war this season. His base price was INR 30 Lakh and he ended up costing INR 4 Crore for the Kolkata Knight Riders.

The one thing that remained in common in these two seasons is, the teams were definitely pushed by their captains in both editions (Ashwin in the last auction and Karthik in this auction) to all-out for him. They have seen something special in the lad, but it seems likely that he will sit out most of the time with the presence of some quality spinners like Sunil Narine and all-rounder Nitish Rana.

5. Nathan Coulter-Nile (MI)

Despite being one of the most highly-rated bowling all-rounders from Australia, Nathan Coulter-Nile has been an injury-prone cricketer who missed the whole of RCB’s campaign last time, owing to an injury plus the World Cup commitments with Australia. He is top quality when he’s on song, but INR 8 Crore seemed to be a bit wayward.

One of the biggest reasons to say he’s too overpaid is the presence of world-class bowlers in the MI camp. They already had traded Trent Boult with the Delhi Capitals, which added to the firepower of Mitchell McCleneghan and the legendary Lasith Malinga among the foreign speedsters. Did they really need him? Well, only time will give a better answer to that question.

Coulter-Nile could spend a lot of time on the bench and is the favourite to finish as the costliest benchwarmer of the upcoming IPL season. If the speedster can get a game or two ahead of the preferred players and prove the management a point of his, that’s the only way we can say the money was spent well.