IPL Auction: Why franchises opt against Shaw, Thakur even as Suryavanshi creates history

If Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, and Venkatesh Iyer stole the spotlight on Day One, Shardul Thakur, Prithvi Shaw, and young Vaibhav Suryavanshi emerged as the key talking points of Day Two, albeit for contrasting reasons. Suryavanshi (13) rewrote history by emerging as the youngest player to secure an IPL contract (Rs 1.10 crore), while Shaw and Thakur drew dubious attention for going unsold in the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction which concluded in Jeddah on Monday (November 25).

"The game catches up with you, right?" summed up Ricky Ponting, who has spent almost 10 years as a coach in the IPL. At Delhi Capitals (DC) a few years ago, he had worked with Thakur. He recalled an instance how they planned for the Mumbai all-rounder. "So, you know, Shardul, only a couple of years ago, I think we paid about INR 10 crores for him in an auction. And now he's not. Now he's unsold," he pointed out.

Thakur (33) was bought for Rs 10.75 crore at the last mega auction in 2022. Some IPL watchers think the timing of Thakur's auction order was wrong. Another observation was that his base price, Rs 2 crore, was too high. Yet another reason, a franchise insider said, could be the Impact Player rule which has considerably diminished the utility of all-rounders.

The Australian also felt bad for Shaw whom he calls the best talent he had ever worked with. "Sad," he said. "You know, Prithvi, I still say now he is as talented a player as I probably ever worked with. He goes unsold in the auction and then doesn't even come back in the accelerator. And there are a lot of teams here that are looking at him. He's not playing. But as I said, the game catches up with you. So, yeah, I guess that. Yeah, that's about all you can say." At DC last year, he was not included in the XI for six games and it is said that the franchise was taking action against him for indiscipline.

Shaw is increasingly coming to be associated with the tragedy of unfulfilled potential, due to various factors, indiscipline being one of them. "When you look at something like that, it's actually quite sad that he's not...," Ponting remarked, stating that with a touch of sadness for the Mumbai youngster. Once hailed as a prodigy after scoring a century on Test debut at the age of 18, Shaw was even compared to Sachin Tendulkar. Now, however, his name is often mentioned alongside Vinod Kambli, who represents the unfortunate narrative of self-subversion and unrealized potential. Recently, Shaw was dropped from the Mumbai Ranji team and it was pointed at that stage that he had serious fitness issues.

More objective, and yet generic, observation is about the teams' quest for six-hitters. "Why did some of those players go unsold? It's probably a combination of form and performance. The ability to hit sixes is now paramount -- it's 120 in 6 overs which is the high bar now set and teams are looking for players who have the skill to achieve that. It's no doubt a high bar, but if you aren't brought up with this instinct to go after the bowling from ball one, it's super difficult at this stage to go out and acquire or develop the same," a senior franchise coach, involved in auction planning for over a decade, said.

"Overall the template that everyone is looking for is more sixes (and fours) from batters and for bowlers, ball types that induce wickets (attacking bowler) or a template which ensures a bowler is bowling a high level of defensive type deliveries (defensive bowler) which are based around consistency of length etc."

Apart from Shaw and Shardul, Kane Williamson, David Warner, Sarfaraz Khan, Jonny Bairstow and Mayank Agarwal were among those who were untouched by the franchises.

A new kid on the block

The story of Vaibhav Suryavanshi is truly inspiring. "Prodigy" is the word that immediately comes to mind when one describes him. At the Rajasthan Royals nets, he is said to have hit sixes with ease. Having already played five Ranji matches for Bihar, he carries the distinction of being India's youngest first-class cricketer. During a session at the Royals' nets in Nagpur, he impressed none other than Vikram Rathour, the former India batting coach.

"So he's been to our High Performance center in Nagpur. He had trials there and really impressed Zubin and the team on the ground there. Both Zubin Bharucha (talent scout and inhouse coach of RR) and Vikram were there from our coaching setup. He is an incredible talent. And of course you've got to have the confidence that they can step up to the IPL level. So yeah, lots of work will go in over the coming months to continue to develop him. But he is a hell of a talent and we're really excited to have him as part of the franchise," Jake Lush McCrum, the CEO of Royals, said. Starting with a base price of INR 30 lakhs, Royals and Delhi Capitals went for him with the former taking him for INR 1.10 crores. Pressed for more, the franchise refused to speak more on the youngster.

Mumbai Indians, meanwhile, are excited that Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult will be back together, a combination that won them a title. "Trent Boult and Bumrah are back, that's the partnership that we really wanted. You know, left-armers are a point of difference for us, especially in the bowling line-up," Akash Ambani, the owner of Mumbai Indians, said.

Ness Wadia, the co-owner of Punjab Kings, said new coach Ricky Ponting spent hundreds of hours behind the scenes to prepare for the auction. "I think getting a balanced team, having the right combination is very difficult. And I mean, to be honest, again, it's the hard work which is put in by Ricky and our team of analysts. So a lot of hours, I mean, hundreds of hours went into it. And as you know it's such a dynamic situation, so we had to cut and adjust and alter our plans. We're happy with what we got."