Did CSK, MI lose IPL 2022 at the mega auction?
The five-time champions Mumbai Indians and the four-time champions Chennai Super Kings have been eliminated from the playoffs race of the 15th edition of the IPL. The two teams, who remain to be the fan favorites even after an abysmal performance, let go of the opportunities during the mega-auction.
Both the teams focused on getting very few players on their priority list, thereby losing out on a bunch of talent. When the auction started with the marquee list, they did not show much interest in getting hands on the experienced players and kept waiting for other names to appear before starting their participation.
When Mumbai started bidding for Ishan Kishan, that is where it was understood what they were waiting for. They stood strong from the beginning till the end and paid a whopping sum of INR 15.25 crore to get him back to their side. And then came Jofra Archer under the hammer, who was set to miss the IPL 2022 owing to his injury. However, Mumbai had the future in their mind as they occupied him for a huge sum of INR 8 crore.
On the other hand, CSK had their eyes on getting back their core members, with a plan to continue with a similar team that had won the 2021 IPL. They did pitch in for some sensational players, but they gave up at a point in time and did not try hard to big players like Shardul Thakur, Faf du Plessis, and Suresh Raina, who were the backbone of the team’s top performances had to bid adieu to the side.
Instead, CSK focused on buying back the Deepak Chahar, who was recovering from an injury back then and was set to miss the first half of the IPL 2022. While they did buy him for a huge sum of INR 14 crore, he got eventually ruled out after suffering another injury during recovery.
While Mumbai failed to put things together this season, CSK failed to play a tough combination of players due to their poor choices during the mega-auction. With the teams reshuffled this year, the two franchises will try to rectify their mistakes before the 2023 IPL to play the brand of cricket they are known for.
