IPL Auction 2024: Who Will Be The Costliest Player? Ravichandran Ashwin Delivers Scintillating Verdict
Published - 18 Dec 2023, 12:51 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:24 AM
Ace Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is gearing up for the big auction day on December 19, 2023. The IPL 2024 auction will be held on Tuesday with as many as 333 players set to go under the hammer.
There 214 are Indians, 119 are foreign players and two are from associate countries. Moreover, 116 of the total players listed for the mini-auction are capped cricketers and 215 are uncapped.
Ravichandran Ashwin was retained by Rajasthan Royals along with his fellow Indian spinner Yuzvendra Chahal. The Royals retained 17 players and will head into the IPL 2024 auction with an eye to buy 8 more players to complete a squad of 25 players. Among the eight needed they also need three overseas players. The Royals nearly have a remaining purse of 15 crores in which to buy their remaining players.
Ravichandran Ashwin’s “Guessing Game” On IPL 2024 AUction
Meanwhile, Ashwin who has been very active on social media recently found new ways to make his predictions regarding the auction. In his recent YouTube video, Ashwin showed different batting shots to imply the kind of price range the players might go for at the auction.
He played a defensive shot to imply the range of 2 -4 crores. He next played the drive shot showing that the players in this category might go for 4-7 crores. He pulled out the pull shot to imply that the players might go for 7-10 crores and finally showed the slog hinting that players in this category might go between 10-15 crores.
He finally brought out the helicopter shot to imply that the players in this category might go over 15 crores. We have seen IPL franchises break the bank to roped in players for over 15 crores. Ben Stokes and Sam Curran, the two England all-rounders went for more than 15 crores in the last IPL auction. While Stokes went to CSK for 16.25 crores, Punjab Kings roped in Curran for a record 18.50 crores.
Meanwhile, Ravichandran Ashwin is not a part of the Indian team that is playing the ODI series against South Africa in South Africa. He was not included in the T20I squad as well. The veteran spinner will return to the Test squad for the two-match series. Ashwin is sitting on 489 wickets from 94 Test matches. He has a chance to get to 500 Test wickets in the upcoming Test series.
His counterpart Nathan Lyon went past 500 Test wickets in the first Test against Pakistan in Perth. He now sits on 501 Test wickets after picking up five wickets in the first Test. Lyon’s recent record will act as a great confidence booster for Ashwin to get to 500 wickets said Sunil Gavaskar on commentary during the first ODI.
Talking about the first ODI, Arshdeep Singh picked up 5/37 in Johannesburg to bowl out South Africa for 116. India won the match by 8 wickets chasing the target down in 16.4 overs. Shreyas Iyer scored 52 while Sai Sudharsan on his debut scored an unbeaten 55.
