IPL 2023 Auction Review: Sam Curran, Cameron Green, and Ben Stokes crack records in a breathtaking auction.

Foreign all-rounders, Indian pace bowlers, and uncapped all-rounders dominated the mini-auction in Kochi making a Rs 167 crore sale of 80 players on Friday, December 23.

For the record books, 24 year old English sensation Sam Curran broke the record for the most expensive buy in the history of the IPL auctions. He was bought by Punjab Kings for a whopping amount of Rs 18.50 crore, breaking South African cricketer Chris Morris’s total of Rs 16.25 crore from the auction of the 2021 season.

However, the record of Sam Curran was looking like it will not last long as the bidding war started for 23 year old Aussie all-rounder Cameron Green. Minutes later, Mumbai Indians secured Cameron Green for a magnificent sum of Rs 17.50 crore, the second-most expensive buy in the history of the IPL auction - which was just Rs 18.25 crore less than Curran.

The show was still on air when the England test captain Ben Stokes was introduced to the franchise teams in the auction. He was bought for big money - 16.25 crores by the Chennai Super Kings.

West Indian cricketer Nicholas Pooran was the 4th most pricey player at the IPL 2023 auction. Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) guarded off the bidding war from Delhi Capitals (DC) to buy the former West Indies captain for Rs 16 crore. Pooran, who was dismissed by Sun Risers Hyderabad after an unfortunate run in the previous IPL found his way back in this new season. The big hitter scored 306 runs in 14 matches but failed in crunch situations last season.

Except for Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai Indians, and Punjab Kings, all other franchise teams in the 10-team league met their quota of 25 players. Kolkata and Punjab will head into IPL 2023 with solely 22-member teams while Mumbai will hold 24 players. Unlike Mumbai Indians, Kolkata and Punjab had sufficient funds to complete their teams for the new season, which is designated to be held in both home and away formats.

While the big money expenditures, many stars like South Africa's Rassie van der Dussen, Sri Lanka's Dasun Shanaka, England's Chris Jordan, and Dawid Malan were some of the big foreign players, who went unsold. On the other side, there are going to be a few thrilling first-timers in the IPL 2023 as the preferences of former England captain Joe Root and Ireland pacer Josh Little, England’s youngster big-hitter Harry Brook and Bangladesh wicketkeeper Litton Das apart from Green.

𝗕𝗲𝗻 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺

Ben Stokes, the talismanic all-rounder of English cricket has been named as the new captain for the English test team. Stokes replaced Joe Root, who stood down earlier this month after a series of flops.

Stokes, who was the dearest for the job, said he was "𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘌𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘛𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮" ahead of a busy season of international cricket.

"𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐'𝘮 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳," said Stokes.

Stokes also thanked the former test captain and his teammate Joe Root in his statement - "𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘑𝘰𝘦 (𝘙𝘰𝘰𝘵) 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘌𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥."

New managing director of England men's cricket Rob Key said: "𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘯𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘛𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘉𝘦𝘯. 𝘏𝘦 𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘦𝘳𝘢 𝘰𝘧 𝘳𝘦𝘥-𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘵."

England will play their first test match under Stoke's captaincy against New Zealand, the country of Stoke's birth. The three-Test series will start at Lord's on June 2.

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𝗝𝗼𝗲 𝗥𝗼𝗼𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗮𝘀 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗧𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻

"𝘈𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵, 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘱 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘢𝘴 𝘌𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘦𝘯'𝘴 𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯"

Root said in a statement issued by the England Cricket Board (ECB). Saying that the role had taken a heavy toll on him recently, after dispiriting tours of Australia and the Caribbean capped a string of poor outcomes.

His resignation follows the sackings of England men's cricket managing director Ashley Giles and head coach Chris Silverwood, with the pair dismissed before the West Indies tour after a humbling 4-0 Ashes defeat in Australia over the winter.

"𝘐𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦; 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵."

Ex-England captains Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain also agreed that it was time for the 31-year-old, Root to step down. Ben Stokes and Stuart Broad are candidates to become the next England Test captain, say Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain.

Since taking charge in 2017 as Alastair Cook's successor, Root led England in a record 64 tests. His 27 wins and 26 defeats as captain are also records.

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