The grand stage of the IPL 2024 auction, hosted at the Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai, witnessed a captivating blend of drama, strategy, and high-stakes bidding wars. A total of 333 players, including 119 overseas talents and 214 Indian players, were up for grabs. The 10 teams managed to fill 72 slots out of the 77 available slots.
In the end, a total of INR 32.5 crore were still left with the franchises. While the auction spotlight naturally falls on the players who secure lucrative deals, the unsold XI stands as a testament to the incredible talent pool that went unrecognized on auction day. Here is the best unsold XI from the IPL 2024 auction:
Openers – Steve Smith (C) and Philip Salt (WK)
Steve Smith has captained Rajasthan Royals and now defunct Pune Supergiants. Under his captaincy, the Supergiants managed to reach the final of the IPL 2017 edition. Smith has featured in over 100 matches in IPL and has scored 2485 runs at a strike rate of 128.09.
He has opened the batting for Australia in T20Is recently and had a successful BBL season as an opener last time. In BBL, Smith scored 346 runs in five matches at a strike rate of 174.74. He had the highest strike rate among the batters, who made over 100 runs. Smith could have easily been grabbed as a backup opener by any of the 10 teams.
Salt had a great outing last season with the Delhi Capitals. He featured in nine matches for the team and scored 218 runs at an average of 27.25 and a strike rate of 163.91. He is the leading run-scorer for England in T20Is this year and has made over 350 runs at a strike rate of 168.72 in seven innings, including two centuries. Salt could have been a steal pick for his base price of INR 1.5 crore.
Top and Middle Order – Urvil Patel, Vivrant Sharma, Karun Nair, Sarfaraz Khan
Urvil Patel, the 25-year-old wicketkeeper-batter, was a part of the Gujarat Titans last season. He had the second-best strike rate among the batters, who scored over 150 runs in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. He made 164 runs in eight innings at a strike rate of 202.46.
Vivrant Sharma played three matches for Sunrisers Hyderabad last season and made 69 runs at a strike rate of 146.81. He scored a half-century as well. He scored 313 runs in the Vijay Hazare Trophy in six matches at a strike rate of 113.81.
Karun Nair played for Vidarbha in domestic cricket this season. In the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, he made 218 runs in seven games at a strike rate of 152.44 and hit two half-centuries. Nair has played 76 matches in IPL and has made 1496 runs at an average of 23.75.
Sarfaraz Khan played for Delhi Capitals last season and was released by the team before the IPL 2024 auction. He has played 50 matches in IPL and has amassed 585 runs at a strike rate of 130.58. Most teams required an Indian middle-order batter, and Sarfaraz could have been one of the best picks among the players who were available at the auction table.
All-rounders – Raj Bawa, Atit Sheth
Raj Bawa was snapped by Punjab Kings during the 2022 auction for a price of INR 2 crore. Bawa made his IPL debut that year and featured in two matches. He was released by the franchise before this year’s auction. He picked seven wickets in seven matches in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy at an average of 18.71.
Atit Sheth finished as the joint second-highest wicket-taker in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. He took 18 wickets in nine matches for Baroda at an average of 14.27.
Bowlers – Adil Rashid, Josh Hazlewood, Ravi Teja
Adil Rashid played for Sunrisers Hyderabad last season and took two wickets in two matches at an average of 28. He is the number one ranked bowler in the ICC rankings and could have been an excellent pick in the IPL 2024 auction.
Josh Hazlewood had a base price of INR 2 crore but didn’t find any buyer at the auction table. He has taken 35 wickets in 27 matches in IPL at an average of 23.14.
Ravi Teja was the leading wicket-taker in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. He picked 19 wickets in seven matches at an average of 10.10. He had a base price of INR 20 lakh.
Read this also : IPL Auction 2024: Full list of players of all 10 teams
