IPL 2019: Five Indian players who might go unsold in the auction

The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2019 auction is just around the corner. All the eight franchises put out of the list of players whom they’ve retained and released a few days earlier. They are quite a few high-profile Indian cricketers who are back on the auction table in a bid to try out their fortunes yet again. However, some of these cricketers might even go unsold during the auction.

Even though they are all great in their own regards, they haven’t tasted much success of late. These cricketers have failed terribly in IPL 2018 and therefore, the franchise owners, who have been extremely smart in the erstwhile auctions, could look to forgo them for the upcoming season. In our article, we take a look at five Indian players, who may not get any bid next time around.

1. Gurkeerat Mann

Gurkeerat Singh Mann was picked by the Kings XI Punjab in 2012. He is known to be a clean hitter of the cricket ball and is capable of finding the gaps easily. However, his inconsistency implied that he had limited opportunities and was in and out of the team. He was also picked in the Indian team in 2016 for the Australian tour but was dropped right after that series.

The Kings XI Punjab franchise decided to part ways with him ahead of IPL 2018. He was picked by the Delhi Daredevils in the auction but didn’t get to feature in a single game for them. He is now back in the auction pool and might not get any bidders for the upcoming season. The 28-year-old is currently taking part in the Ranji Trophy, representing Punjab.

2. Vinay Kumar

With over 100 IPL games, Vinay Kumar is one of the most experienced campaigners in the tournament. Ever since 2008, he has played for four different teams with the Kolkata Knight Riders being the last one. However, he hasn’t been as effective a bowler since 2014. He leaked a lot of runs at an alarming economy rate and his wickets tally decreased drastically, much to his agony.

The right-arm speedster only played 28 matches in the last five seasons and picked a mere 21 wickets. A match-losing performance for Kolkata in the 2018 season against CSK where he gave away 35 runs in 1.5 overs didn’t see him in the playing XI again in the season. Kumar failed to defend 17 runs off the last over and his graph is only going down as age is catching up on him.

3. Naman Ojha

With no other good wicketkeeping option, the Sunrisers Hyderabad were forced to stick with Naman Ojha for quite some time. He didn’t yield good results with the willow in hand but was clinical behind the stumps. The franchise released him ahead of the mega-auction in 2018 and he was then picked by the Delhi Daredevils.

With Rishabh Pant doing so well, Ojha didn’t get as many opportunities as he would have liked. He featured in one match towards the end of the tournament and only managed to score 1 run. In 113 IPL games, his average has only been about 21 which isn’t much encouraging. With many young wicketkeepers rising up the ranks, the 35-year-old might go unsold.

4. Mohammed Shami

Although he is good in Tests and decent enough in ODIs, Mohammed Shami has been disappointing in T20s more often than not. He leaks runs at a great rate and many were perplexed when Delhi decided to use their Right to Match (RTM) card for him and buy him at INR 3 crores. Coming off personal life issues, the Bengal fast bowler had a terrible outing in 2018.

He picked three wickets in four games giving runs at an economy over 10. Subsequently, he was also sidelined from the eleven. His overall IPL figures are also not very convincing for the franchises to bid for him. He only managed to pick 21 wickets in 35 games which isn’t really ideal figures by any stretch of the imagination when you are one of the leading bowlers in the side.

5. Yuvraj Singh

Yuvraj Singh, one of India’s greatest all-rounders, is at the twilight of his career. He is a treat to watch and the shots that he plays often leave everyone in awe. But, it isn’t the same Yuvi now what we were used to watching in the veteran’s heydays. His struggles against the short-ball are well-known and he is struggling with his timing of late in all forms of cricket.

He almost found no bidders in IPL 2018 until Kings XI Punjab popped up at the last moment and acquired him. Yuvraj had a disastrous season scoring at a strike rate of 89 and only managed to accumulate 65 runs in 8 matches. He is not even playing the Ranji Trophy for Punjab this season and the 37-year-old’s IPL career most probably has ended as well.

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