The player auction ahead of the 2022 Indian Premier League churned out some interesting selections among South African players recently.
Rather predictably, Proteas fast bowler Kagiso Rabada fetched a hefty price tag. Rabada has been a consistent performer at the IPL for many years. He is no longer with the Delhi Capitals and, this season, will turn out for the Punjab Kings. Punjab bought the pace ace for the equivalent of R18 million.
Faf du Plessis, meanwhile, has left the Chennai Super Kings. He has gone to the Royal Challengers Bangalore, who will be without the talismanic AB de Villiers this season. De Villiers has retired from all forms of professional cricket. Du Plessis could slot directly into his countryman’s batting slot, whether that be at the top or in the middle of the order. RCB purchased du Plessis for approximately R14 million.
Quinton de Kock is not with the Mumbai Indians anymore. There are two new teams in the IPL. The Lucknow Super Giants is one of them. The Gujarat Titans are the other. De Kock has gone to the Super Giants. He’ll likely be a force to be reckoned with in front of and behind the stumps. Lucknow purchased him for around R13 million. De Kock will almost certainly feature among popular markets and events with Sportland the IPL nears. Player of the match and top batsman categories should be among these.
Upward of R8 million is what the Sunrisers Hyderabad paid for Marco Jansen, whose maiden IPL season last was with the Mumbai Indians last year. Jansen is one of the tallest and best left-arm fast bowlers in world cricket at the moment. He could thrive on this hefty stage. Hyderabad also opted for Aiden Markram at R5 million. The Punjab Kings have lost Markram, who should be better suited at an SRH outfit now minus the services of Australian import David Warner.
David Miller missed out on the first round of picks and it looked as though the hard-hitting left-hander would miss this edition of the IPL. He had an extended period with Punjab before heading to the Rajasthan Royals. He was bought in the second round, though, and this time will represent the Gujarat Titans. They paid around R6 million for Miller.
Possibly the most exciting of all the purchases is Mumbai’s decision to go with Dewald Brevis. He was in superb form in the recent Under-19 Cricket World Cup in the Caribbean and has been dubbed ‘baby’ AB’ or ‘AB 2.0′. There are plenty of likenesses to Brevis and de Villiers’ styles of play. Mumbai paid R6 million for the South African teenager, who seems to have a huge future ahead of him.
Perhaps the most low-key of the buys is Dwaine Pretorius. He was snapped up by Chennai, who have bolstered their batting and bowling resources with this reliable all-rounder. This will be Pretorius’ maiden IPL, as is the case with Rassie van der Dussen, who is going to play for Rajasthan.
In terms of some of the bigger South African names that went unsold, look no further than Imran Tahir and Tabraiz Shamsi. Wrist spinners, in general, were not popular during the player auction.