IPL 2020: 5 players who might not get a bid in the upcoming auction

Here are the five players who might find it tough to find a franchise in the December auction.

The IPL 2020 trading window closed on November 15 and we saw a lot of players being released or traded during this period.

We saw R Ashwin and Ajinkya Rahane being traded to Delhi Capitals, who gave Trent Boult away to Mumbai Indians. There were some big names like Chris Lynn, David Miller, Evin Lewis, Dale Steyn, and others being released by their franchises. Though some of the released players might find a buyer in the upcoming auction in Kolkata on December 19, some players might have very well played their last IPL in 2019 itself.

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Team COC picks five such players who were released by their franchises and are in the high probability of not finding any bids in the December 19 auction due to various reasons.

Here are 5 players who might not get a bid in the upcoming auction

MARTIN GUPTILL

Martin Guptill has had an adventurous IPL career so far where he has played 13 matches and scored 270 runs with a single 50. For someone who has a terrific limited over record everywhere else, Guptill has failed to crack the code to Indian pitches.

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Spinners have always been his kryptonite and hence he has failed to keep his place in any franchise he has played in. He has played for Mumbai Indians, Kings XI Punjab, and Sunrisers Hyderabad, but has been released every time after one season thanks to his poor technique against spinners.

This has already made potential bidders in the upcoming auction wary of picking him if he puts his base price in the highest slab. For someone with such a poor record on Indian pitches will find it extremely hard to find a buyer.

DALE STEYN
South Africa’s premier seamer Dale Steyn has been part of IPL since its beginning. His best years came with various franchises from 2010-2014. Otherwise, national duty or injuries meant that the ace fast bowler couldn't manage to devote much time to the league.

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In 2019, he was picked by RCB to replace an injured Nathan Coulter-Nile and played two matches leaving quite an impact. However, he injured his shoulder and had to leave the league. The injury made him miss the 2019 World Cup and he had to call time on his Test career due to the same.

At 36 years of age and struggling with injuries for the past 3 years, Dale Steyn will find it difficult to find bidders in IPL auction in December. He was also not picked by South Africa for India series. No one might be ready to put their money on a player which may not be able to play all the matches.

TIM SOUTHEE
Tim Southee is a veteran bowler despite being only 30 years old. But he has failed to find the perfect length or line to bowl on Indian pitches during the IPL. Southee is New Zealand’s vice-captain in limited-overs cricket and recently gave a great run to England in the five-match T20I series.

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However, in IPL, the right-hand fast bowler has 28 wickets from 40 matches at an economy of 8.73. He was picked by the RCB last season in 2019, but he failed to do his duty of keeping runs down in death overs. Southee has a poor economy rate in the league and the upcoming auction might not be kind on the bowler.

YUSUF PATHAN
The veteran all-rounder Yusuf Pathan was once the find of Indian Premier League as he starred for Rajasthan Royals when they became champions in IPL 2008. He then helped Kolkata Knight Riders win the tournament twice in 2012 and 2014.

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He was then picked up by Sunrisers Hyderabad and though the all-rounder managed to hang onto his place in initial years with the side, his performances and hitting prowess have waned down considerably. He is no longer the finisher who could be trusted to hit the ball out of the stadium on a regular basis and his fielding became a bane on the side.

Hence now that he finds himself in the auction once more, there is a viable chance that no franchise would want to bid on him, given his high base price and his slowness in the field.

ROBIN UTHAPPA
Robin Uthappa has led a charmed life in the IPL playing for almost every franchise out there. He was even part of Kochi Tuskers Kerala, which was part of IPL for one season. But he has found more success as part of the Kolkata Knight Riders and overall, he has 4411 runs in 177 matches with 24 fifties and a best score of 87.

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Uthappa has been one of the most successful players for KKR in recent times, but for the past two seasons, he has been unable to reach the heights of his 2014 edition, when he was named the player of the tournament. Uthappa has also moved on to Kerala from Karnataka in domestic cricket and has been unable to make many runs in the last two limited-overs domestic tournaments.

With him being possibly in the upper echelon of base price slab in the auction, 34-year-old Uthappa may not be in the consideration of other franchises, given his poor run with the bat off lately.