Despite being in the final stretches of his career, Faf du Plessis continues to be as impressive as ever. He finished as the second highest scorer in IPL 2021 but was released by his franchise and defending champions Chennai Super Kings.
Former Australian spinner Brad Hogg predicts an intense bidding war for Faf du Plessis. He believes that teams like Royal Challengers Bangalore, Punjab Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings will all fight tooth and nail to secure his services which could lead to a dramatic increase in his value.
“Du Plessis will be the most sought out player in the auction, because of his leadership skills. RCB, PBKS and KKR and CSK will go for him. He has leadership skills as well, which is why the other three teams will look to bring him in,” Hogg reckoned while speaking on his YouTube channel.
“He is very consistent at the top of the order as well. I reckon he could go for 7 Crore, could blow out to 11 crores, after especially what he did last year.”
Despite having yet another productive IPL season, Faf du Plessis was controversially left out of the South African squad once again for the T20 World Cup. Chennai Super Kings decided to retain Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni, Moeen Ali and Ruturaj Gaikwad thus, leaving no space for Du Plessis.
Brad Hogg also tried predicting the futures of big players like Shreyas Iyer, Mohammad Shami and Kagiso Rabada in the IPL 2022 Mega Auction. He believes that all the three sides which are without a captain – PBKS, RCB and KKR – might target Shreyas Iyer in the auction. Hogg also believes that Rabada and Warner will be picked up within the INR 4-5 Crore mark.
“Iyer is a consistent player, controls the innings, but also with his experience in captaining in the IPL, I think PBKS and RCB will go for Iyer, KKR might even have a dab as well. I think he will go for about 4 crores,” said Hogg.
“Rabada, always bowling in those dangerous situations and he does the job well, picks up wickets, bowls with a reasonable economy. I think he should go for 4-5 Cr.
“All 10 teams will be very aggressive going after Shami, I wouldn’t be surprised if he is up about the 5 Cr mark or more. Don’t see Warner going for anything more than 4 Cr,” he concluded.