Before the game, Suresh Raina, a former captain of both India and the Chennai Super Kings, gave his predictions for the players who will perform well.
The 16th season of the Indian Premier League, now the biggest and wealthiest franchise T20 league in the world, will get underway with the IPL 2023 mini-auction on Friday. This year’s auction is not a huge one like the past.
The majority of the big names are already gone and settled with their respective clubs, so teams won’t start from zero, but that doesn’t mean the anticipation for this year’s auction is any less. After losing Kane Williamson, several clubs, like Surnrisers Hyderabad, are in need of a captain.
Teams like the Mumbai Indians are looking for a successor for Kieron Pollard, while others, like the Chennai Super Kings, are looking for a true all-rounder in the wake of Dwayne Bravo’s retirement.
Punjab Kings also have the second-largest salary after SRH. Not to mention Lucknow Super Giant, who released a number of players like Manish Pandey and Jason Holder despite performing well in their debut season.
Suresh Raina, a former captain of India and the Chennai Super Kings, gave his predictions for the players who will do well before of the event. Raina chose Jaydev Unadkat and N Jagadeesan from among the Indian players, both of whom have had a strong domestic campaign.
Suresh Raina’s remarks
While Jagadeesan amassed five straight hundreds for Tamil Nadu, the latest of which was a record-breaking 277 against Arunachal Pradesh, Unadkat concluded with 19 wickets in 10 games at an economy rate of 3.33.
“N Jagadeesan is a very intelligent, calculated batsman who bats really deep and has a great cricketing intellect. He has done a great job for Tamil Nadu; be on the lookout for him on Jio Cinema,” he remarked.
As a result of his impressive performance in the T20 World Cup, when he grabbed 11 wickets in seven games, Raina singled out Irish fast bowler Joshua Little as a player to watch out for.
“Ben Stokes has led England brilliantly, and Sam Curran has performed admirably for both England and Chennai Super Kings. Therefore, having a top all-around player on your squad might alter how the game unfolds.”
“Then there is Jaydev Unadkat, who just took home the Vijay Hazare Trophy and has extensive IPL experience. Joshua Little from Ireland should be avoided. I recently played with him, and he’s been doing extremely well in the World Cup right now,” he stated.
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