IPL 2023: 5 released openers who can earn big bucks in the mini auction

The IPL retentions and releases were announced by the franchises on Tuesday (November 15) and a few of the decisions did surprise a lot of fans. The Royal Challengers Bangalore franchise decided to stick with their core group from the previous edition retaining a total of 18 players while Sunrisers Hyderabad are likely to rebuild the squad after freeing up a lot of slots. 

The IPL Auction 2023 is set to be held in Kochi on December 23 and this will be a mini-auction featuring a lot of young names. However, star all-rounders like Sam Curran, Ben Stokes and Cameron Green are expected to feature in the auction this year and they will be among the top gaining overseas players in IPL 2023 Auction. 

Openers tend to hold a special place in the auctions and they are of high demand always as they set the tone for the innings. Among the big names that were released, let us look into five released openers who can earn big bucks in mini auction.

1. Mayank Agarwal

Mayank Agarwal was one of the surprising releases ahead of the IPL Auction 2023 and the prolific batter is expected to go for big bucks in the mini-auction. The right-hander who captained the Punjab franchise last year scored just 196 runs in 12 innings at an average of 16.33 and a strike rate of 122.50 which wasn’t enough for him to justify his price tag of INR 12 Crores. 

Punjab announced Shikhar Dhawan as their new captain few weeks back after Agarwal’s captaincy could not do any wonders to the franchise. In fact, Agarwal had two terrific IPL seasons in 2020 and 2021 while opening alongside KL Rahul, however, he failed to live up to the expectations in IPL 2022.  

The 31-year-old is likely to induce a bidding war among the franchises with not much Indian contingent left for auction. The Sunrisers Hyderabad franchise hasn’t named a captain after releasing Kane Williamson and they could go all out for the Karnataka-lad to solve their opening issues alongside his leadership potential.