IPL 2019 Mini Auction

A premium on mystery

Kings XI Punjab paid ₹8.4 crore for Varun Chakravarthy, a former architect who bowled a range of spinners batters struggled to pick, and who had never played for a senior IPL side. Injury restricted him to a single match. Rajasthan paid the same price for Jaydev Unadkat, a year after making him the most expensive Indian buy, which shows how scarce left-arm pace options were.

Chakravarthy's story did not end there. A year later Kolkata bought him for less than half the price, and he took 17 wickets; see the 2020 auction.

Punjab's shopping

Punjab spent more than anyone else, and also bought Sam Curran for ₹7.2 crore; he took a hat-trick against Delhi. Delhi's buys of Axar Patel and Colin Ingram helped them to their first playoffs in seven years. Sunrisers Hyderabad and Chennai spent almost nothing, trusting squads that had reached the previous final.

One run again

Mumbai Indians, among the smallest spenders, won their fourth title by beating Chennai by one run in the final, two seasons after winning a final by the same margin. Their approach, keeping a stable core and using the auction for small additions, is traced on the Mumbai Indians page.

Reading the numbers

Punjab spent almost twice as much as any other franchise, and overseas players took only two fifths of the money, low for a mini auction, because the two joint-top prices were both Indian players. Hyderabad and Chennai, the previous season's finalists, spent the least.

Mumbai, sixth on spend, won the title, and Delhi, second on spend, reached the playoffs for the first time since 2012. The unsold list included Brendon McCullum, Chris Woakes and Alex Hales, established T20 players for whom the franchises had no overseas slots left. Of the ten most expensive buys, only Axar Patel and Mohammed Shami were regulars, with 14 matches each, and four played two matches or fewer.