The next season of cricket’s biggest carnival, the Indian Premier League (IPL), is scheduled in March next year. But ahead of that, the official players’ auction will take place on December 19.
IPL franchises are busy to finalize their go-to-list of players.
Recently, 971 cricketers, which includes 713 Indian and 258 overseas players, have registered for the 2020 IPL auction. All the eight franchises now have time till December 9 (5pm IST) to submit their shortlist of players that will make to the final auction list.
Though Australian pacer Mitchell Starc has kept himself out from the auction list, this has opened the doors for another Aussie paceman Pat Cummins to grab all the attention of franchisees who are looking for a lethal bowler.
Cummins has been excellent in the past few years. He may not have played a lot of T20 cricket in the last couple of years, but he’s one of the best all-format bowlers in the world at the present time.
When it comes to the IPL, Cummins first played for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in 2014 and 2015 but didn’t get a lot of opportunities. In 2017, he played 12 matches for Delhi and picked up 15 wickets.
Then he was bought by Mumbai Indians (MI) for a sum of INR 5.6 crore in 2018, but due to a back injury, he didn’t take part in the season. Therefore, he was released and now is back in the auction pool.
The wicket-taking ability of Cummings will definitely attract quite a few buyers.
So let’s have a look at the three franchises that could bid for Cummins.
Kings XI Punjab
Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) have a decent pacer in the form of Mohammed Shami. But since Punjab have released Ankit Rajpoot they need a speedster who can destroy opposing team’s batting order, and Pat Cummins can do that role perfectly.
KXIP have the largest purse with a whopping INR 42.70 crores remaining, so it won’t be a surprise if one sees them going for the Aussie pacer.
Royal Challengers Bangalore
Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have struggled in the death overs, due to which they have lost quite a few matches. This year RCB will undoubtedly focus on improving their bowling department, and on doing that, they will have to go for a bowler who can solve their bowling crisis.
Pat Cummins can heal Challenger’s down and out of this situation, and pump-up their average bowling department. Half of the team’s games will be played at their home ground M Chinnaswamy Stadium where boundaries are pretty short, and the pitch favors batsmen.
So, for RCB it’s essential that they should go for a bowler who is accurate and has the potential to dominate the batsmen with his pace, yorkers, and bouncers; Cummins has those all abilities.
Kolkata Knight Riders
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) must’ve planned to buy Mitchell Starc in the upcoming season, but his absence from the list of registered players came as a shock, and KKR would be feeling that. However, they can change their plans and go for another Aussie pacer Pat Cummins, and he can be handy for them.
At present, KKR have Lockie Ferguson and Shivam Mavi among the pacers. They also have Kamlesh Nagarkoti, but he seems to be unfit as he missed out on the recent Emerging Teams Asia Cup tournament.
KKR needs a fast-bowler who not only can provide early breakthroughs but also bowl better in the death overs, and Cummins fulfills both the criteria.
