The IPL 2024 auction saw exciting buys from different parts of the world like Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, etc. But some of the best players, unfortunately, went unsold due to the team’s combination and the auction dynamics.
IPL 2024 Auction: Best Playing XI of Unsold Players
Here, in this article, we will have a look at a playing XI of those unsold players in IPL 2024.
Openers: Phil Salt and Ibrahim Zadran
The England opening batsman did a decent job for Delhi Capitals in the IPL 2023 season and in the recently concluded five-match T20I series against West Indies, he ended up smashing two back-to-back centuries (109* in St. George’s and 119 in Tarouba).
Salt scored 331 runs against West Indies from five innings but despite that humongous effort, he was completely ignored by all the franchises on the auction table.
The Afghan opener was on tremendous form with the bat in the 2023 World Cup as he was seen scoring 376 runs from 9 innings which also included a terrific 87-run knock against Pakistan. His destructive form with the bat as an opener could have helped the IPL franchises who were looking for an overseas player like him.
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Middle Order: Kusal Mendis, Steven Smith, Rassie van der Dussen
Kusal Mendis could have been a decent batter in T20Is and apart from that he also provides a wicket-keeping option for the franchises but unfortunately despite having such skill sets, he went unsold in the auction table. He went unsold despite keeping his base price for a very low price of ₹50 Lakhs.
The Australian legendary batter Steven Smith went unsold in the IPL 2024 auction despite having a decent season with the bat in Ashes 2023 and the World Cup. He was last seen playing IPL for Delhi Capitals in 2021 and post that he went unsold in 2022 mega auctions too.
R assie van der Dussen has been a solid middle-order batsman for the South African team in ODIs over some time, and his presence in any of the ten IPL franchises could have helped them potentially to have a terrific batter to play the spinners very well and effectively in middle overs of the game like Daryl Mitchell.
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All-Rounders: James Neesham, Ben Cutting, Sean Abbott
James Neesham has been a match-winning all-rounder for New Zealand in limited-overs cricket but when it comes to IPL he hasn’t unleashed his full potential, thus he hasn’t found any bidders in the auction table during the 2024 IPL.
Ben Cutting in the recently completed PSL 2023 edition smashed 89 runs from 5 innings at a strike rate of 139.06 and also picked 3 wickets with the ball. He could have been a handy all-rounder for any IPL franchise but none of them showed interest in the auction table. His all-around effort and heroics for the SRH franchise in the 2016 finals will be remembered for a very long time.
Sean Abbott has been a very good bowling all-rounder for Australia in the limited chances he got but unfortunately, he went unsold due to the auction dynamics as the team looked for better players than him. Notably, he also set his base price for a huge amount of ₹ 2 crores.
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Bowlers: Tim Southee, Josh Hazlewood, Adil Rashid
New Zealand’s experienced pace bowler Tim Southee saw no bidders for him unfortunately despite the amount of skills that he possesses in this T20 format. Teams like RCB could have gone for him at a base price of ₹1.5 crores but it’s a big surprise that no franchise showed interest in him.
Josh Hazlewood after having a spectacular season with the ball in the 2023 World Cup went unsold in the auction table due to his availability in the IPL 2024 until May 2024.
England’s leg spinner Adil Rashid who was part of SRH in IPL 2023 unfortunately went unsold due to his base price of ₹2 crores as none of the franchises showed interest in going for a leg spinner for a huge amount of money.
