The Indian T20 League mini-auction for the 2023 edition took place on December 23, in Kochi and the fans witnessed players going for record-breaking bids, with Sam Curran bagging the highest bid of INR 18.5 crore from the Punjab Franchise and the cricketing world went crazy over the same.
However, with big money, comes big responsibility and the chances are pretty high that a few of those who bagged huge money might fail to deliver in the tournament. We decided to handpick three players who were overpriced at the end of the auction and might fail to stand up for the team in the T20 contest.
Here are the three players:
3) Cameron Green
One has to agree that the Mumbai team management were one among the very few to have utilised the trade window to the fullest and they roped in Jofra Archer, the English prime bowler for the current edition, during the mega auction, way back in 2022. Eventually, they placed a bid of INR 17.5 crore and it is highly likely that Green might not live up to the expectations.
Although one could argue by drawing the home series against India in October 2022 as an example, the young Australian sensation has not been consistent in the domestic circuit, averaging only around 16.33 and 2 fifties to his name. This might come as a concern for the Mumbai team, although they would hope for the best from the Kangaroo star.
2) Nicholas Pooran
Nicholas Pooran was a part of the Hyderabad franchise in the 2022 edition and the team released him ahead of the mini-auction to free up their money purse. When the least expected, the Lucknow franchise roped the West Indies player in for a whopping INR 16 crore and stunned the fans.
However, a few of their fans claimed that they bought him for a price higher than the actual value and said that it might backfire in the tournament. Notably, the Caribbean star failed to flourish in the previous edition, causing a headache for the Hyderabad franchise halfway through the contest in 2022.
1) Ben Stokes
With Chennai releasing Dwayne Bravo and the latter calling it a time, they were in desperate need of an overseas allrounder ahead of the much-anticipated 2023 edition. Eventually, much to the delight of the Chennai fans, they roped in the star English allrounder Ben Stokes and surprised them.
However, they had to pay INR 16.5 crore for the Three Lions allrounder and fans claimed that the player was a bit overpriced. Stokes scored a century for the Pune franchise way back in the Indian T20 League in 2017 when he played alongside MS Dhoni and since then, the allrounder is yet to make an impact in the league.