IPL Auction 2022: Shocking! Suresh Raina, Steve Smith remain unsold

Bengaluru, February 12: In a rather surprising move, Suresh Raina and Steve Smith remained unsold in the IPL Auction 2022 on Saturday (February 12).

Raina was a bit unexpected because he has been one of the most successful batsmen in the IPL. But his absence in the IPL 2021 and the drama surrounding it could have affected his possibilities.

Smith was not really surprising because as a batsman the Australian was not really been able to make big contributions either for Rajasthan Royals or Delhi Capitals in the past.

In general, 10 teams will be eager to make their picks from among the 600 players on offer, 377 from India and 223 from abroad.

There will be some big names like David Warner, Pat Cummins, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer etc who will be the obvious attractions in the IPL auction.

But there will be some dark horses like Shahrukh Khan or some World Cup winning India under-19 players who may land a big deal in the auction.

Then we will also miss some familiar names like Chris Gayle, Ben Stokes, Mitchell Starc etc who have opted out of the auction for several reasons.

But that in no way will affect the whole enthusiasm surrounding the auction.

The presence of two new teams in Lucknow Super Giants and Gujarat Titans will add that much flavour to the auction as the existing franchises will have to redraft their strategies keeping in mind two more adversaries.

Interesting rules

The Silent Tie-Breaker: When two teams are tied and exhausted all their purse trying to bid for a player, they can submit a final closed bid amount and the one who's bid more will get the player.

The extra amount bid is to be deposited with BCCI and will not be part of Rs 90 crore purse. Process can be repeated till a clear winner emerges.

Accelerated Process: Here franchises put up a common wish-list of players they want auctioned

Status of Right To Match Cards (RTM): NO RTM Cards available in this IPL auction 2022.

Squad Strength: Minimum Players: 18; Maximum Players: 25

Slabs of Base Prices: Rs 2 Crore, 1.5 Cr, 1 Cr, 75 Lakh, 50 lk, 40 lk, 30 lk, 20 lk.