Opinion
In the 2021 IPL auction, we all saw many unexpected picks and some exciting players getting left out.
The franchises were looking to build a title-winning team and had spent more than 145 crores on the 18th of February.
Lucky are those who were able to make it to some team’s squad, whereas the unfortunate ones are the players who performed well but did not make the cut.
During every IPL season, we see many injuries taking place and these players are mostly replaced by some exciting candidates who missed out on the auction day.
Now, let us take a look at the three players who can join as a replacement in the 2021 IPL.
1. Alex Hales
Alex Hales comes first on the list. No one expected him to go unsold after his magnificent batting throughout the Big Bash League this year.
He had topped in the run charts making 543 runs with a solid strike rate of 161.60. Hales is also quite experienced in the shortest format, playing around 60 matches for England and scoring 1600 plus runs.
Sadly though, he has not played many matches in the IPL. The only season where he got the chance was during 2018 season for Sunrisers Hyderabad. That year, he opened six matches for them, scoring 148 runs from it, with an average of nearly 25.
This does not do any justice to the vast talent Hales possess. We will have to wait and see if the IPL teams regret not picking an aggressive opener like him, that too for only his base price of 1.5 crores.
Alex Hales with the Thunder. (Photo by Chris Hyde – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)
2. Glenn Phillips
This 24-year-old has played some good cricket for his country and recently he became the fastest New Zealander to score a century in the shortest format.
He has played 25 T20Is in which he has taken 500 plus runs with a strike rate of 149.7, which is quite brilliant.
Despite being a wicketkeeper batsman, who is in good form and having a low price tag of just 50 lakhs at the auction, no teams were ready to bid for him.
Glenn Phillips will be hoping to make a lot more impact for New Zealand and also to attract the attention of the IPL teams ahead of next year’s mega auction.
3. Carlos Brathwaite
He is someone who can hit sixes with ease. The West-Indies star has played 16 matches in the IPL, throughout various seasons.
In this, he faced a total of 111 balls scoring 181 runs with a hefty strike rate of 163.1.
An excellent player who can finish off any innings, we saw him do it quite easily during the final of the biggest stage in cricket, the T20 World Cup.
He ended up hitting four consecutive sixes in the last over to win the World Cup for his country.
Brathwaite can also be handy with the bowl, which is evident from his IPL performances taking 13 wickets in his 16 matches under an economy of nine.
Rajasthan Royals can be the biggest contender for Brathwaite since they lost their star Ben Stokes due to an injury.
RR already has some big hitters like David Miller and Liam Livingstone and would be looking for an ideal all-rounder as a replacement.
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