‘They will just do a bit of window shopping’ – Former Indian cricketer’s bold statement about franchises ahead of mini auctions

The former Indian opening batter Aakash Chopra believes that the Bangalore, Rajasthan, and Kolkata franchises are the teams that won’t go into a bidding war during the Indian T20 League 2023 mini-auctions.

Chopra thinks that these teams will be more motivated to fill the gaps on their squad than anything else because they lack the money to afford any top players. Rajasthan has INR 13.2 crore in their remaining bank account, while Bangalore (INR 8.75 crore) and Kolkata (INR 7.05 crore) have even less.

Here is what Chopra had to say about the aforementioned teams in a video on his YouTube channel: “Bangalore, Rajasthan, and Kolkata don’t have to do much shopping. They will just do a bit of window shopping and even if they wish to buy someone, they can’t because they just don’t have the budget.”

I feel all-rounders are going to have a field day in the auction: Chopra

As per Chopra, all-rounders will fetch a high value at the Indian T20 League 2023 auction. Star overseas all-rounders like Sam Curran, Cameron Green, and Ben Stokes are undoubtedly high on the priority lists of many sides.

There will also be a few uncapped all-rounders, who could draw interest from numerous teams and command high prices. Regarding this, Chopra said on his YouTube channel: “Other teams will probably splurge huge sums while filling bigger holes, but I feel all-rounders are going to have a field day in the auction.”

Bangalore franchise players: Virat Kohli, Dinesh Karthik, Akash Deep, Anuj Rawat, Harshal Patel, Karn Sharma, Mahipal Lomror, Mohammed Siraj, Rajat Patidar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Siddharth Kaul, Suyash Prabhudessai, David Willey, Faf Du Plessis, Finn Allen, Glenn Maxwell, Josh Hazlewood, Wanindu Hasaranga.

Rajasthan franchise retained players: Sanju Samson, Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Devdutt Padikkal, Dhruv Jurel, K.C Cariappa, Kuldeep Sen, Kuldip Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Prasidh Krishna, Riyan Parag, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Obed Mccoy, Shimron Hetmyer, Trent Boult.

Kolkata franchise retained players (with trades): Shreyas Iyer, Nitish Rana, Anukul Roy, Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Lockie Ferguson, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Sunil Narine, Tim Southee.