Internet Desk: Indian Premier League 2018 auction will held on 27 and 28 January 2018 as a total of 578 players including 360 Indians and 218 overseas players will go under the hammer in the auction. As many as 198 cricketers can be picked by all the eight teams in the auction.
Let’s look at those five players who can be the surprise targets of IPL Auction 2018.
1. Evin Lewis: The southpaw from Trinidad has been simply sensational in T20Is in the past 12-15 months. The destruction he has caused at the top of the order for West Indies has been immense. With a strike rate of 155 in T20IS, he can make a mockery of any big target. After his two T20I centuries against the Men in Blue, the Indians know how much he can hurt when he gets going.
Surely he is on some franchise’s plans going forward. Don’t be surprised if he sets the auction on fire, just like Ben Stokes did last time.
2. D’Arcy Short: The western Australian all-rounder D’Arcy Short has taken the ongoing edition of Big Bash League by storm. He is now the highest scorer in the tournament, and also the man with most runs in a single edition of the Big Bash League’s history. He has 465 runs to his name in 7 matches of this edition’s BBL, an average of 77.50 and a strike rate of 153.46, that also includes a century and three fifties.
Moreover, he has proved himself effective with his left arm chinaman bowling. He has six wickets to his name in 16 T20s so far, an average of 27.66, economy of 8.58 and a strike rate of 19.3.
3. Jofra Archer: The 22 – year old Bajan quick is rapidly becoming one of the most exciting all-rounders in the world. With ambitions to play for England one day, Archer has been taking all the right steps in order to achieve his dreams.
Representing the Hobart Hurricanes, Archer has taken Australia by storm. With the ability to consistently clock 140+kmph, he has been terrorising the BBL, something the IPL franchises would have noticed.
4. David Willey: David Willey is one of the most underrated T20 players in the world. His all round skills make him an invaluable asset for any T20 side.
He has 2,053 runs and 139 wickets to his name in 143 matches at averages of 23.87 and 21.54 respectively. His batting strike rate of 142.17 is highly impressive and he has also got two T20 hundreds to his name.
5. Colin Ingram: The 32-year-old left-handed South African batsman is one of the dark horses in the auction to look out for.
He may go on to fetch a higher price than established names, mostly due to his exploits in T20 leagues across the world. Ingram has a rich experience of playing in 159 T20 matches with 4,039 runs to his name at an average 29.26 and a strike rate of 136.22. Those runs also include three centuries and 24 scores of fifty plus.