As the IPL 2023 Auction is set to take place on Friday (December 23) in Kochi, a lot of questions are set to be answered. Among the many questions, there’s one about who will get sold for the highest price. In the 2022 auction edition of the Indian Premier League, India’s young batting sensation Ishan Kishan was sold for Rs 15 crore which made him the most expensive player of the year. This time, there are a lot of contenders for that ‘most expensive player’ tag out of the 405 listed following the mini-auction. Arguably, it can England all-rounder Sam Curran, who just won the player of the tournament in the T20 World Cup this year for his emphatic performance for the Three Lions on their road to becoming world champions.
Ben Stokes is another player who can get sold for the highest price on December 23 but Sam Curran’s age will also play a huge role in him walking out of the auction as the most expensive player of the IPL 2023 mini-auction.
Intense bidding is expected to be the order of the day when 10 teams jostle to grab their preferred players from a limited pool of cricketers. The player pool for the auction has been pruned to 405 with a maximum of 87 slots, including 30 overseas, to be filled by the teams. (IPL 2023 auction: Ben Stokes to Mayank Agarwal, Top 10 Picks for December mini-auction – IN PICS)
Former South Africa all-rounder Chris Morris has been the biggest beneficiary of the mini IPL auction till date. In 2021, he became the most expensive player in auction history when Rajasthan Royals shelled out Rs 16.25 crore for his services. Morris is now happily retired.
All-rounder Curran, who was named the Player of the 2022 T20 World Cup, is expected to attract intense bidding and end up with a million dollar deal. He is only 24 and teams will look at him as a long-term investment. Back in 2019, Punjab Kings made him an IPL millionaire before he moved to Chennai Super Kings who would be looking to buy him back.
Curran, who missed the 2022 season as he was recovering from a back injury, has set his base price at Rs 2 crore. The all-rounders have been listed in the second set to come up for bidding. The venue of the auction is not the usual Bengaluru as Kochi gets to host the keenly followed event.
Curran’s English teammates including Test skipper Stokes and Harry Brook are also likely to land fat pay cheques. Stokes is a super star of the game and delivers in the toughest of situations while Brook made a name for himself in the Test format with three centuries against Pakistan after already proving his worth in the shorter-formats. Stokes has set his base price at Rs 2 crore and Brook at Rs 1.5 crore.
Australian all-rounder Cameron Green will also be watching the proceedings keenly. He has not looked back in the shortest format after getting the opportunity to open for Australia in India earlier this year. Many were surprised that he was not picked in the World Cup squad initially but he was eventually drafted in after Josh Inglis got injured.
