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Harshal Patel ( Image Credit: BCCI/IPL)
The Indian T20 League is set to start on the 26th March 2022. The mega auction for the same took place in Bangalore in February. The 10 participating franchises filled up their squads in the mega auction.
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Ishan Kishan was the most expensive player and was bought back by Mumbai for 15.25 Cr INR. Along with Ishan, some other players also broke the bank. The price tag of many of such players was felt to be unfair by the fans and critics.
Let’s look at some of the players who might not live up to the price for which they were bought by their franchises.
1. Harshal Patel: Harshal Patel was the backbone of the Bangalore bowling attack in the Indian T20 League season of 2021. Patel picked up 32 wickets in the season. His slower deliveries posed difficulty for most of the batsmen in the tournament.
His amazing performance in the previous edition earned him a contract of 10.75 Cr INR for the upcoming season, as Bangalore bought him back. Harshal’s slower deliveries were more effective as he played his matches on the slow tracks of Chennai and UAE, so this year Patel might struggle in batting-friendly conditions of Mumbai and Pune.
2. Prasidh Krishna: From being a surprise inclusion in the Kolkata squad to being one of the primary bowlers, Krishna has come a long way. He has matured as a bowler and delivered some impressive performances in the domestic as well as international circuit.
Krishna has been roped in by the Rajasthan franchise this year at a huge price of 10Cr INR. But according to stats, Krishna is a run leaker in the death overs, with an economy rate of 10.96. With the inability to bowl death over special deliveries, he might fail to justify his price tag.
3. Tim David: Tim David featured for Bangalore in just one match in the 14th edition of the Indian T20 League. This year in the mega auction, Mumbai bought David for 8.25 Cr INR.
While David has a strike rate of 192 in the death overs in his T20 career, the pedigree of the bowlers he scored against is a matter of question. His reputation at the highest level is still untested. With the quality of death bowlers that the Indian T20 League has, David might fail to justify his price tag.
4. Devdutt Padikkal: Devdutt Padikkal is considered a rising young star in Indian cricket. He had two decent seasons with Bangalore scoring 400 plus runs in both.
Padikkal has been bought by the Rajasthan team this year at a price of 7.75 Cr INR. The matter of concern is the fact that the majority of Padikkal’s runs in the Indian T20 League came in the batting-friendly pitch of Bangalore. He had a strike rate of 125, which is not too great in terms of T20 cricket. Paddikal will need to work on his strike rate to justify his price tag. However, he is not a natural hitter of the ball thus, he may struggle in the upcoming season because the kind of batting Rajasthan have, the team will expect quick runs from him.
5. Rahul Tewatia: Gujarat have secured Tewatia’s service at 9 Cr INR. Rahul Tewatia came into the limelight with his brilliant batting performance in Indian T20 League 2020. He smashed 5 consecutive sixes in the innings of Sheldon Cottrell’s bowling.
After this, Rahul Tewatia has failed to keep up his performances. He had on ordinary last season and might struggle to perform in the coming season as well.