IPL 2024 Auction: As we near the Auction Day, around 333 players are going to go under the hammer in order to attract bids from franchises to get a chance to feature in the richest franchise league in the world, the Indian Premier League (IPL). Out of the pool of 333 cricketers, 119 are foreigners and will be eyeing for those vacant 30 slots. The likes of Rachin Ravindra, Pat Cummins, Travis Head will be amongst the hot favourites. However, here are the potential 5 foreigners that are most likely to go unsold on the auction day:
1. Rilee Rossouw: The South African left-handed batter is most likely to go unsold in this year's IPL Auction. The veteran, who does have couple of T20 tons in his account, has been blowing hot and cold and mostly cold as of late. With age and athletism being a huge factor, Rilee will have more reason to not attract bids and with a base price of 2 Cr., franchises too will have a major reason to not go after the South African. Rilee has previously played for Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2014 and 2015 seasons but didn't play much and when he did, he couldn't manage to put on impact. Delhi Capitals went for the 34-yr old last season and apart from his unbeaten 82 against Punjab Kings, he had a forgettable IPL campaign.
2. Jimmy Neesham: The 33-yr old all-rounder from New Zealand is a veteran in the T20 format but has had a torrid IPL career. Even though Jimmy has travelled around the world to play franchise cricket, his inability to perform consistently is a big factor that will resist the hands of franchises to bid for him. Jimmy has previously played Delhi Capitals (2014), Punjab Kings (2020), Mumbai Indians (2021), and Rajasthan Royals (2022) but has averaged below 10 in his past 2 IPL seasons combined and with emergence of young talent, Jimmy will most likely remain unsold.
3. Colin Munro: The 36-yr old New Zealander is another opening batter that will probably see himself as unsold in this year's auction. The Kiwi has three international T20I centuries under his belt but given his woeful IPL career and lack of foot movement, franchises will be going in for much younger, in-form, and technically sound players, and with most of the franchises having their top order woes sorted, a place for an inconsistent Munro seems highly unlikely given the emergence of fellow countrymen, Rachin Ravindra and Mark Chapman.
4. Ben Cutting: The Australian lower-order all-rounder was once amongst the most versatile players around the globe, given his ability to bowl yorker, slower ones, or be it his power hitting, but is now way past his prime and highly inconsistent. Having last played IPL in 2019, the 36-yr old has much tougher competition given the return of fellow countrymen Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins in this year's IPL Auction list, and also some of the most sought-after bowlers present right now.
5. David Willey: The recently retired English international medium pacer is most likely to go unsold in this year's IPL Auction. Recently released by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), the 33-yr old left-armer has had his injury woes and with franchises seeking very few foreigners due to the number of slots available, it's highly unlikely the verstaile English cricketer will attract any bids.