While the IPL 2023 is still 6 months away, the franchises have already started brainstorming ideas for the auction. According to strong reports, the auction will be held in mid-December, unlike last time when it happened in February just over a month ago from the tournament.
There are no retention rules, which means the franchises can keep their best players and release several players to make space in their purses for the auction. There will be a number of marquee international stars who will be up for grabs in the auction. The teams’ purse has also been increased by 5 crore to 95 crore.
Here are 5 players who could bag contracts worth more than 10 crore at the IPL 2023 auction:
Ben Stokes
The superstar England all-rounder Ben Stokes is expected to put his name in the IPL 2023 auction.
The all-time record for the most expensive player in the IPL auction history belongs to Chris Morris when in 2021, the Rajasthan Royals splurged 16.25 crore for the South African. It wouldn’t be wrong to assume that franchises would be willing to spend a similar amount on Stokes, who is one of the premier all-rounders in the world.
Stokes has already retired from ODI cricket, giving his full attention to the England Test team as their new captain and to T20 cricket. Stokes, who was the Player of the Tournament in his debut IPL season in 2017, pulled out of the tournament last year, but is expected to feature in next year’s IPL, and will surely grab a bumper contract in the auction.
Cameron Green
A seam-bowling Australian all-rounder who can open as well bat in the middle-order – Cameron Green, despite playing just 4 T20Is and 17 T20s so far, is going to be a major attraction at the IPL 2023 auction, if he chooses to put his auction, which, given he could bag a million AUD comfortably, would be difficult to opt-out of.
Green recently opened for Australia against India in the absence of David Warner and announced himself in the shortest format. He smashed 61off 30 balls in Mohali and 52 off 21 in Hyderabad to gain the eyeballs of fans and IPL franchises. Green’s potential is immense – he’s only 23 – making him a hot commodity at the auction.
Phil Salt
Dynamic England batter Phil Salt has taken T20Is like a duck to water. Having made his T20I debut in January this year, Salt has scored 215 runs in 10 T20I innings at a belligerent strike rate of 164 with two fifties.
His best knock in T20Is came recently against Pakistan in Lahore. Where the home team captain, Babar Azam, scored 87 runs at a strike rate of 147, Salt came out and blitzed his way to 88 off only 41 balls, strike rate of 214! This tells you about the mindset of Salt, who has also been chosen over senior opener Jason Roy in England’s T20 World Cup squad after contrasting forms in The Hundred: Salt helped Manchester reach the final of the tournament scoring 323 runs at a strike rate of 152.
The 26-year-old can also keep wickets and is versatile to bat at number 3, making him a desirable, multi-faceted cricketer that IPL franchises won’t mind spending big money on.
Dasun Shanaka
After years of being in the transition phase, and being part of a mockery for their poor show on the field and the mess off it, the Sri Lankans are roaring back. They won the Asia Cup 2022 under the inspirational leadership of all-rounder Dasun Shanaka, and now a handful of them could also get handsome contracts at the IPL.
Rajapaksa, Theekshana and Pathirana made impressive highlights last season. This year, skipper Dasun Shanaka could start a bidding war at the IPL 2023 auction. Having made his debut in 2015, Shanaka has been around for a while but now is in the best form of his left.
The 31-year-old has an experience of 158 T20 matches (74 T20Is) wherein he has a strike rate of 141, and in all T20s in 2022, he has plundered runs at a strike rate of 212 in the death overs. He can also give 2-3 overs regularly and is known for his leadership qualities. If history is any proof, any seam-bowling all-rounder is in demand in the IPL auction; Shanaka can expect a good amount of money to be spent on him.
Mitchell Starc
Could 2023 be the year when Mitchell Starc makes his return to the IPL after 2015? It could well be. Due to injury and workload management, Starc has been pulling out of the IPLs in the past half-a-decade. But with the 2023 World Cup to take place in India, the left-arm fast bowler could put himself in the auction.
He had bagged 34 wickets in 2 seasons in 2014 and 2015 for RCB. The Australian spearhead pacer remains one of the deadliest, all-phase fast bowler in the world and will set the auction alight if he does indeed enters it. He can also whack the ball good towards the end with the bat. 10 crore would be quite a minimum bid for Mitchell Starc at the IPL 2023 auction.
