The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 mini-auction concluded after a record-breaking bidding day in Kochi, laying the groundwork for what should be another exciting season of T20 cricket. The ten teams purchased 80 players after spending a total of Rs 164.5 crore at the Kochi mini-auction.
THE moment when @nicholas_47 became a #SuperGiant! ?#IPLAuction | #TATAIPL | #LucknowSuperGiants | #LSGpic.twitter.com/W5Qr7Cj8TJ
— Lucknow Super Giants (@LucknowIPL) December 23, 2022
Accordingly, Seven West Indies players went under the hammer in the auction, five of which were sold while Johnson Charles and Sherafane Rutherford were both unsold.
Former West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran was the sixth-highest buy in an IPL auction, the highest value for a West Indies player so far.
However, former India player Dodda Ganesh questioned Puran’s valuation. Also, Wasim Jaffer, a former Indian player and current cricket specialist, expressed a similar opinion. There he mentioned that Lucknow Supergiants paid more money than Pooran.
Sunrisers Hyderabad bought him for the 2022 season and released him from the team after that season. Accordingly, Pooran was in the 2023 auction pool, and in the auction he was sold to LSG for a whopping Rs 16 crore.
Speaking to ESPNcricinfo, Wasim Jaffer said;
“They’ve got good players, Sams and Romario Shephard, I think was a good buy, even though there’s a question mark about them delivering in the IPL. Nicholas Pooran again falls in that category even though he’s a quality player, but I think he’s very overpriced.”
The former West Indies captain has scored 912 runs in 44 IPL innings at a strike rate of 151.24. He scored 306 runs in 13 innings for SRH in IPL 2022.