A rather bizarre situation took place in the recently-concluded IPL 2023 mini-auction as a never-seen-before episode happened in Kochi. Rajasthan Royals entered the auction with the lowest purse value — INR 13.2 crore, having only 16 players in the squad and four foreigners in their ranks. RR needed atleast two more players to meet the criteria of a minimum squad size of 18 players and preferably four more foreign players to complete the team formation. However, the Royals went as far as INR 13 crore to buy only one player — Harry Brook.
Yes, the inaugural IPL winners went to the auction with an intention of buying Harry Brook and they were ready to spend Rs 13 crore on him. Had they managed to buy Brook, they would have been left with a purse of only Rs 20 lakh.
Also, they would have managed to buy only one Indian player had they bought Brook for INR 13 crore but that didn’t happen. Harry Brook was eventually bought by SunRisers Hyderabad for INR 13.25 crore. SunRisers didn’t attempt to spoil the party of the competitor but they were left wondering if there could have been an intervention by the regulators or the auctioneer. An SRH official said:
“Theoretically they (the Royals) could have met the rules of the league but at some stage the BCCI or the auctioneer could have reminded them that they are dangerously close to exhausting the salary cap on one player. That called for some intrusion,”
However, the Royals claimed they were always in control. Speaking to Cricbuzz, RR official Romi Bhinder said: “We knew about our limits and actually we went to Kochi with an intention to buy just one player. We were aware that if we had got Brook, we would have only five foreign players.”
Rajasthan added many more players to their roster including Jason Holder for INR 5.75 crore.
Players bought at IPL 2023 auction:
Joe Root (INR 1 crore), Abdul P A (INR 20 lakh), Akash Vashisht (INR 20 lakh), Murugan Ashwin (INR 20 lakh), KM Asif (INR 30 lakh), Adam Zampa (INR 1.5 crore), Kunal Rathore (INR 20 lakh), Donovan Ferreira (INR 50 lakh), Jason Holder (INR 5.75 crore)
Complete Squad Of Rajasthan Royals:
Sanju Samson (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shimron Hetmyer, Devdutt Padikkal, Jos Buttler, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, Prasidh Krishna, Trent Boult, Obed McCoy, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Sen, Kuldip Yadav, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, KC Cariappa, Jason Holder, Donovan Ferreira, Kunal Rathore, Adam Zampa, KM Asif, Murugan Ashwin, Akash Vashisht, Abdul P A, Joe Root.
