5 Most Surprising Picks of IPL 2020 Auction

The IPL has always defied cricketing pundits, especially when it comes to the player choices of IPL franchises. Every time, there are new and unexpected surprises in the IPL auction and this time too, it was no different. The auctions for IPL 2020 threw up a few surprises.

5 Most Surprising Picks of IPL 2020 Auction

1. Piyush Chawla (India)– Piyush Chawla was purchased by Chennai Super Kings for a hefty Rs. 6.75 crore even after being released by KKR where he has played since IPL 2014 and his poor form and age. Chawla has played 237 T20 games with 251 wickets to his name. However, his fitness issues and inconsistent form have been major spoilers throughout his IPL career. Chennai’s decision to pay a huge price for him has definitely raised eyebrows.
2. Nathan Coulter-Nile (Australia)– Coulter-Nile was a major surprise with Mumbai Indians splashing out Rs. 8 crore on him after having bowlers like Jasprit Bumrah, Lasith Malinga, Trent Boult and others like Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya in the ranks. Coulter-Nile has not played any T20 game for close to a year now which makes this move pretty surprising indeed!
3. Josh Hazelwood (Australia)– Chennai Super Kings paid Rs. 2 crore to secure Hazelwood who has struggled with his bowling in the shorter format of the game. He last played in a T20 match in the year 2016 and in spite of the long gap, CSK decided to snap him up in a surprising decision.
4. Chris Woakes (England)– Woakes went to Delhi Capitals for Rs. 1.5 crore and agreed, he is one of the established national team players for England, contributing with both ball and bat. However, he has not played well in the IPL so far and had a high base price. He has 25 wickets in 18 IPL matches and it remains to be seen as to how he performs for Delhi Capitals in the next season. Yet, it remains a surprising choice by all means.
5. Mitchell Marsh (Australia)- Sunrisers Hyderabad bought Mitchell Marsh for his rather high base price of Rs. 2 crore. He did not have major chances of being selected by any IPL franchise owing to this base price. Yet, he bagged a rather surprising deal with SRH in spite of his less than perfect IPL record with Pune Warriors and Rising Pune Supergiant.

These are the 5 most surprising choices of players made by IPL franchises. It now remains to be seen whether these players will return to form and vindicate the decisions made by their respective franchises.