Top 5 Indian stars to watch out for at the 2022 IPL Auction

The highly-anticipated mega IPL Auction returns to our TV screens in 2022 for the first time in four years on the 12th and 13th of February in Bengaluru. 590 players will go under the hammer across the two days of bidding, and here are the five Indian stars who could earn the biggest payday at the 2022 IPL auction.

1. Ishan Kishan

Ishan Kishan is one of the most explosive young Indian batters in the IPL auction, and the left-hander could attract interest from all the IPL teams in 2022, given his age and all-round skills. Kishan was one of the most pivotal cogs in the Mumbai Indians side that won back-to-back IPL titles in 2019 and 2020, and the keeper-batsman has also gone on to make his debut for India, scoring a half-century on T20I debut.

2. Shreyas Iyer

Shreyas Iyer was not retained by the Delhi Capitals for IPL 2022, making him one of the most high-profile Indian names to be put back into the main auction pool this year. Although Iyer’s strike rate and game against pace bowling is a worry, the former 27-year-old is one of the few viable Indian captains left in the IPL auction, having previously led the Delhi Capitals to their first IPL final in 2020.

3. Yuzvendra Chahal 

Yuzvendra Chahal is likely to be the most in-demand spinner at the 2022 IPL auction, given his phenomenal record in RCB colours over the past eight years. Chahal is the third-most successful leg-spinner in IPL history behind Amit Mishra and Piyush Chawla and has taken at least 18 wickets in each of the last three seasons. The 31-year-old has also played over 50 T20I’s for India and could be the subject of a major bidding war from the ten IPL teams at the auction.

4. Shikhar Dhawan

Shikhar Dhawan has been one of the most consistent batters in the Indian Premier League over the past few seasons, scoring over 500 runs in the past three years for the Delhi Capitals. At age 36, Dhawan is also one of the most experienced Indian players available in the IPL auction and the former SRH skipper could also be a viable captaincy candidate for teams such as Punjab or Kolkata who desperately need a leader.

5. Ravichandran Ashwin

Ravichandran Ashwin recently made his comeback into the Indian white-ball team ahead of the 2021 T20 World Cup, and the off-spinner has enjoyed a couple of excellent IPL seasons with the ball for the Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings in recent times. Ashwin is amongst the top ten wicket-takers in IPL history with 145 scalps in 167 matches, and the 35-year-old also boasts an excellent economy rate of just 6.91 in the competition.