The IPL 2023 auction will take place on December 23 in Kochi. As many as 405 players will go under the hammer on the auction day.
The total number of capped players is 119, uncapped players are 282, and four from the associate nations. This will be a mini-auction since the last one was a mega-auction.
There are 273 Indians and 132 overseas players, of which four are from the associate nations, in the upcoming auction. A maximum of 87 slots, with up to 30 overseas slots, can be filled during the auction.
Since only 30 overseas stars can be bought this time, there are many who will go unsold.
We picked up 5 overseas players who are most likely to go unsold in the IPL 2023 auction:
Chris Lynn
Although Chris Lynn has picked up some form in the recent Abu Dhabi T10 league and the ongoing BBL, it is highly unlikely to have much effect on the IPL franchises, and once the most destructive pace-hitter, might go unsold in the IPL auction for the second consecutive time.
Lynn formed one of the most fearsome opening pairs in the IPL history with Sunil Narine in 2017-2019 during his time at KKR. After that, however, his stocks fell on leaving KKR. Mumbai Indians brought him at his base price of 2 crore and played him in only 1 match in 2020, and benched him throughout the 2021 season before releasing him.
The Aussie opener went unsold in the IPL 2022 mega-auction when his base price was INR 1.5 crore; and now that he’s set his base price at 2 crore, he is all but certain to not find any buyer again.
Shai Hope
Wicketkeeper-batsman Shai Hope has an experience of 104 ODIs and 38 Tests. However, he’s only featured in 19 T20Is for West Indies. This gives an indication of Hope’s T20 batting. Further, Hope’s record in 63 T20 matches- average of 21 and strike rate of 118 – is also unimpressive.
There are plenty of other keeper-batter, both Indian and overseas, who the franchises will look to rather than Shai Hope, who is in the 1 crore bracket.
Angelo Mathews
Sri Lankan senior all-rounder Angelo Mathews featured in 49 IPL matches between 2009 and 2017 for three different teams – KKR, PWI, DC – with little impact on the team’s fortunes. In the IPL, Mathews had a batting average of 23, strike rate of 125 with just one fifty, and picked 27 wickets at an average of 40.
Mathews also hasn’t played a T20I or ODI for Sri Lanka since March 2021, and only plays Test cricket for his country now. So, you can consider that Mathews, who has set his base price at 2 crores, won’t find any buyer in the IPL 2023 mini-auction. The former Sri Lankan captain at the age of 35 isn’t getting any younger either.
Tom Latham
New Zealand’s Tom Latham has never played in the IPL, and the 30-year-old left-handed keeper-batter is unlikely to either. For starters, Latham isn’t a regular part of New Zealand’s T20I team either – he last played a T20I in March 2022 – and has been called up in the past when a spate of other senior and T20 players are rested for New Zealand.
His average of 24 and strike rate of 106 in 18 T20Is aren’t making anyone take notice of him in the shortest format. Latham, though, is New Zealand’s crucial cog in the other two formats. In the auction, Latham has set his base price at INR 1 crore.
Craig Overton
England seamer Craig Overton had some guts when he decided to put his base price of INR 2 crore for the IPL 2023 auction. Overton had gone unsold in last year’s IPL 2022 mega-auction when also he had put himself in the INR 2 crore bracket.
There doesn’t seem to be any reason the franchises will look to buy Overton even at his base price.
Craig Overton has featured in 7 ODIs for England, wherein he took 5 wickets and has not made his T20I debut yet, though he has 70 wickets in as many T20s, but doesn’t have any reliable reputation. He got to play in only 1 match in the last The Hundred. With the bat, Overton averages just 15 at a strike rate of 123 in T20 cricket.
