The Indian Premier League (IPL) has achieved immense popularity across the globe since its inception in 2008. Even the overseas cricketers aspire to be a part of the best T20 league in the world. With some of the world's best players featuring under the same roof, it presents an opportunity for the budding talent to gain loads of experience during their time at the IPL. A stint in the IPL is also accompanied by a heavy money quotient at the IPL auction that induces a great interest among all cricketers to feature in the cash-rich league.
Just like every IPL auction, the auction in 2022 is expected to produce a few million-dollar buys at the auction table. However, with the greater availability of players at the mega auction, there might not be many buys at an extravagantly high price.
As per the trend in the past, there's a huge possibility for some of the released players to go for a high auction price. We attempt to list down five such players who can be the most expensive buy in the IPL 2022 Mega Auction:
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1. Suryakumar Yadav
Mumbai Indians might not be able to retain Suryakumar Yadav due to the IPL retention policy of retaining a maximum of three Indian players. Yadav, who has had a brilliant IPL career with Mumbai, falls behind in that pecking order. The top-order batsman has been a consistent performer for MI at the crucial No.3 spot.
He's one of the few players across all IPL teams who can strike from the word go coupled with his brilliant watchful play against the new ball. In the last T20I series against England, Suryakumar made his T20I debut for India. He showed no signs of fear and was never reluctant to take the attack to the bowlers even while playing for the national team.
It won't be a surprise if more than a few teams go after the incumbent No.3 in the upcoming IPL 2022 mega auction. As a result, there's every chance that the 30-year old Mumbai player might become the most expensive player in IPL 2022.
2. Glenn Maxwell
The Big Show, as he's often called, Glenn Maxwell might not be first-choice players retained by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the next IPL mega auction. The Australian T20 maniac has been one of the most sought-after players in the last few IPL auctions. He was bought for a whopping IPL auction price of INR 14.25 Crores despite having a horrendous season in 2020.
Maxwell is always recognized as an X-factor player who can turn the game within a span of few balls. Maxwell is a gun player and adds firepower to any middle-order. He can even roll his arm over to contribute with quirky off-spin. Just like every other IPL auction, teams would yet again look to acquire his services for the 15 IPL edition.
A bidding war for Glenn Maxwell in the IPL auction is a familiar act. The all-rounder is likely to go for bagful money, especially when he was one of the best performers for RCB in IPL 2021.
3. Shikhar Dhawan
The star Indian opener has hit a purple patch considering his IPL form in the last two seasons. Just when there were questions over his place in the Indian T20I side, Dhawan was striking bowlers to all parts of the ground for Delhi Capitals in IPL 2021. Despite his fluent IPL form since 2019, the Delhi Capitals might not retain for the next IPL edition.
As a key match-winner, the 35-year old will be up for grabs at the auction table in 2022. Times and again, the Delhi player has displayed a rare ability to batting long innings in T20s. He loves to attack in the first six overs and carries the ball-striking momentum throughout his stay at the crease.
It might be a blessing in disguise for the Indian international if he's released by the Delhi Capitals. This might allow him with a higher IPL salary in 2022.
4. Pat Cummins
The Australian paceman dominated the 2020 auction table as he was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders for a whopping price of INR 15.5 Crores. However, KKR is likely to release Pat Cummins ahead of their 2022 IPL auction. The speedster has been one of the highly ranked performers in the last few years in International cricket.
Despite being a typical Test match bowler, Cummins gas developed himself into an all-format bowler for Australia. The right-arm quick has a lot of variations up his sleeve which might unsettle most batting line-ups on his day. His swinging deliveries go unanswered by a lot of premier batsmen. Therefore, he is surely going to be the talk of the town on the 2022 mega auction day.
5. Ravichandran Ashwin
The Tamil-Nadu-based spinster has achieved tremendous success in the bowling landscape for Team India as well as in IPL. Ashwin's contributions to the victory of the team cannot go unnoticed. He's a thinking cricketer and is admired for his ability to make new additions to his repertoire. Despite being a valuable asset for Delhi in the IPL, it is unlikely that Ashwin will be retained by the franchise ahead of IPL 2022.
He's a leader of the attack and takes the onus upon himself to deliver for his team during adverse situations. Eventually, his IPL record and skills with the ball make him an ideal contender to induce an expensive bid in the mega auction ahead of IPL 2022. Hence, it is believed that the off-spinner will make big bucks on the mega-auction day.
