HITS, MISSES AND SURPRISES FROM IPL AUCTION 2016

Going into the Indian Premier League auction 2016 on Saturday (February 6), the likes of Shane Watson and Yu Singh were expected to fetch a fat pay cheque. Watson eventually went to Royal Challengers Bangalore for Rs 9.5 crore while Yuvraj went to Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs. 7 crore but not before the franchises surprised everyone by not going after him straight away. Mumbai Indians went for him after a lengthy delay before Bangalore and Hyderabad joined in.

It was interesting to see that the franchises were a bit cautious throughout the day and while there was aggressive bidding in some cases, it didn't stretch past the Rs. 10 Crore mark - a mark breached quite a few times last year.

"Having been in this in the last eight years the franchises have become very smart. They know when to enter a bid and when to leave. They know what team they want and they get it," explained TA Sekar, the Delhi Daredevils coach. 

Preity Zinta too had the same version to offer. "Franchises here, who have been here the longest, understand that you play to a plan and not bid for the players."

But the auction was much more than who fetched what. There were winners, some bystanders, a few surprises and a few lucky steals.

The winners

These are good times from Pawan Negi. He has done well for the Delhi state side and was named in the squad for the Asia Cup and the ICC World T20 2016. To make things better, he was bought by Delhi for a whopping Rs. 8.5 crore - the second highest bid for the day.

It was a good day for Jos Buttler and Chris Morris as well. The England wicket-keeper was bought by Mumbai for Rs. 3.8 crore and we are all aware of what he's capable of.However, a few people were a bit surprised when, Morris who had a base price of Rs. 50 lakh, was bought by Delhi for Rs. 7 crore.

"We feel Morris is a very good bowler, who can bat a bit. Everyone thinks, T20 is about batsmen, but if you have a good bowling side you can restrict the opposition under 150 and then chase it down easily. Morris was very much in our plans," said Sekar, explaining why Delhi went after him.

Taylor out, Southee back for first  Australia test

Ross Taylor, Senior New Zealand batsman, has been ruled out of the first Test against Australia, starting next friday, putting rising batting star Henry Nicholls in line for his debut.

 Taylor is struggling with a side strain suffered during a Twenty20 International match against Pakistan last month.

 Henry has been very impressive the way hhe is made the step up to international cricket and we are confident of the job he can do for us in the top order, Mike hesson, New zealand hesd coach said,

 Nichollas international career consists of eight odios with an impressive 61 agaisnst Australia in auckland odio on wednesday which New zealand won by 159 runs.

 On the other hand, Tim southee, Who suffered a foot injury in the third one-day international against sri lanka in december last year, has been declared fit to resume international duties.

 The squad announced by new zealand cricket on friday on the eve of the second Odio against Australia, also includes Matt Henry, all-rounder corey Anderson who missed the November Test series in Australia. Hesson said southee, who forms a potent new-ball attack with Trent boult, was New zealands most experinced bowler and we were excited to have him fit and a part o our pace bowling attack.

 Matt also comes back into the squad after some really strong performances throughout the summer, and with coreys return we now have a number of seam  bowling options to consider.

its well documented how good a test side australia are and we know it will take some exceptional cricket for us to have a chance of taking out the series 

 NewZealand squad for first test: Brendon Mccullum, corey Anderson, Doug bracewell, trent Boult, Martin guptil, Matt Henry, Tom latham, Henry Nicholls, Mitchell santner, Tim Southee, Neil wagner, bj watling and kane willaiam.

Negi, Shami included for world T20 and asia cup

Pawan ni and injured MOhammed shami were included the india squads announced, on friday(february 5) , for the upcoming Asia cup and icc World cup and icc World Twenty20.

The meeting was attended by the national selectors along with MS Dhoni, team captain, and Anurag Thakur, secretary of Board of control for cricket in indai(bcci).

  India have announced the same squad for both the tournaments and sandeep patil, head of the national selection panel, was of the view that this was the best squad picked given the conditions that the tournament will be played in.

  We always give importance to domestic performances. Horses for courses has worked well, looking at the ipl and other domestic T20 tournaments, said patil to the media in Delhi. Patil stressed that the recent performances in syed mushtaq Ali trophy and vijay Hazare Trophy were given importance.

A couple of players who might feel hard done by after being left out include manish pandey and amit mishra but patil insisted that they were amongst the names discussed. manish has done exepionally well for us receently and he is the future. His name was certainly discussed, said patil.

  We have full respect for amit mishra has done but emotions can not dictate selections, he added, we discussed him and many other names. The selectors and the captain felt this was the best combination we could have done with. Patil also backed harbhajan singh and negi to be the right men for the slots available. Shami he said, had recoverd and added that there was a full month to assess the pacers fitness.

 The asia cup begins on february 24 in banladesh while the Word T20 kicks off on march 08 in india.

asia cup and world t20 squad

MS dhoni(c), Rohit sharma, shikhar dhawan, virat kohli, suresh raina, Yuvraj singh, Ajinkya Rhane, Ravindra jadeja, Hardik pandya, R ashwin,Harbhajan singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Ashish Nehra, Pawan Negi, Mohammed Shami