IPL 2022 Auction: 5 Indian Players Who Can Get the Highest Bid

All the teams have announced their retention list ahead of the IPL 2022 Mega-Auction. The 8 franchises have retained a total of 27 players, which includes 19 Indians and 8 foreigners. Most of their high-profile names have been retained.

The 19 Indian retained players are MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Venkatesh Iyer, Varun Chakravarthy, Mayank Agarwal, Arshdeep Singh, Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant, Prithvi Shaw, Axar Patel, Virat Kohli, Mohammed Siraj, Abdul Samad, Umran Malik.

Franchises, unfortunately, also had to release several talented Indian players. All those players will find themselves back at the auction pool. Some are them are likely to cause a bidding war. It will be interesting to see which Indian player will get the highest bid at the auctions. In this article, we take a look at five probable players who can get the highest bid.

IPL 2022 Auction: 5 Indian Players Who Can Get the Highest Bid

1. Ishan Kishan

Prior to the announcement of the retention list, there were reports that Mumbai Indians would retain Ishan Kishan for next year. However, as it turned out, Suryakumar Yadav was given the nod ahead of Kishan.

Mumbai Indians retained Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, and Kieron Pollard. Ishan Kishan, thus, will himself in the auction pool. He is counted amongst one of the most destructive batsmen in T20 cricket.

The last time Ishan Kishan played a match against MI in IPL, he tore apart Sunrisers Hyderabad bowling unit, scoring 84 runs off just 32 balls, including 11 fours and 4 sixes.

A guy who has the ability to change the game in a matter of few overs, Ishan Kishan is likely to attract high bids at the auctions. It won’t come as a surprise if there is a bidding war for him. He can definitely get the highest bid for an Indian player in the auctions.

2. KL Rahul

KL Rahul’s four-year’s association with Punjab Kings has come to an end. He will no longer represent Punjab from the next edition. The kind of form he is in right now and the impact he has had with the bat over the last few years, he should cause a bidding war.

All the franchise would be interested in buying his services. He will be on every team’s radar and could well become the most expensive player in the history of IPL. For the last fours years, KL Rahul has consistently been amongst the top five highest run-getters in IPL. He currently has 3273 runs in 94 matches at an average of 47.43.

3. Hardik Pandya

There aren’t as talented players as Hardik Pandya in Indian cricket as far as T20 cricket is concerned. He is a gun fielder, he can bowl at least a couple of overs and can hit big shots in the slog overs. Hardik Pandya has the ability to change the game in a matter of a few overs with the bat.

He hasn’t bowled with full intensity for a while now due to back issues. However, he is likely to be fully fit before the start of the IPL next year. Mumbai Indians would be disappointed to release a player like Hardik Pandya. Despite not being in the best of forms, franchises are likely to splurge big money to buy Hardik Pandya at the auction. How much will he be bought for will be interesting to see.

4. Yuzvendra Chahal

RCB surprised one and all after releasing their premier spinner Yuzvendra Chahal ahead of the mega auctions. Chahal played only a single game for Mumbai before RCB bought him in the 2014 edition of the team.

He became a household name while playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore. Today, he is currently one of the best bowlers in Indian Cricket. Chahal is likely to play for a new franchise in IPL 2022. He didn’t have a great outing in the first leg of IPL 2021 for RCB.

However, the leg spinner bounced back strongly in the second half in UAE and helped RCB reach the playoffs for the second consecutive occasion. Yuzvendra Chahal will be in huge demand in the Mega Auctions and might attract the highest bid among the Indian players.

5. Harshal Patel

Despite picking the most wickets in IPL 2021, Harshal Patel was released by Royal Challengers Bangalore. He was superb with his array of variations and lengths during the tournament.

Patel bowled at great lengths and kept changing the pace off to make things difficult for the opposition batsmen. He ended up picking as many as 32 wickets in 15 matches at an average of 14.34. Thanks to that outstanding season with the bat, Patel also received his maiden India call-up in the recently concluded T20 series against New Zealand.

Looking at how he fared in the IPL for RCB, perhaps, all the franchises are likely to show interest in the Indian pacer.