IPL 2023 auction: Talking points so far

IPL 2023 mini auction took place in Kochi.

The IPL auction got off to a bang as Harry Brook, the second player in Friday's auction, set off a bidding war between Rajasthan Royal, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad. He was eventually snapped up for Rs. 13.25 crore by SRH, its biggest ever signing.

However, that was just the beginning as Sam Curran, Ben Stokes, Cameron Green, and Nicholas Pooran all went for big bucks and occupied four spots in the list of top-5 most expensive buys of all time.

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Let us take a look at some of the other talking points from Friday's auction in Kochi:

• SRH made full use of its deep pockets (Rs. 42.25 crore) and was proactive in its purchases. It bought Harry Brook for 13.25 crore (a record) and also bagged Mayank Agarwal for Rs. 8.25 crore.
• SRH might have also sorted out the vacant captain's position with Agarwal.
• CSK too has bought in a leader in Ben Stokes, who could take over from MS Dhoni who is likely playing his final IPL season.
• Sikandar Raza becomes only the 4th Zimbabwean cricketer to be part of an IPL squad after Punjab Kings bought him. The other 3 are Tatenda Taibu (KKR in 2008), Ray Price (MI in 2011), and Brendan Taylor (SRH in 2014). Taylor, unfortunately, never played a game for SRH.
• Four of the top-5 most expensive buys in the history of IPL auction happened over the course of 90 minutes at the 2023 auction in Kochi. Sam Curran made history after Punjab Kings paid Rs. 18.5 crore for him, Cameron Green fetched Rs 17.5 crore from Mumbai Indians, Ben Stokes went to CSK for Rs. 16.25 crore, and Nicholas Pooran was bought by Lucknow SuperGiants for Rs. 16 crore. Chris Morris was the most expensive buy of all time before today at Rs. 16.25 crore, which Rajasthan Royals paid in 2021.