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Kochi, India
Rajasthan Royalsâ head coach Kumar Sangakkara feels their limited budget heading the IPL 2023 mini-auction cost them Harry Brook â someone who Sangakkara thinks would have fitted well into the RRâs setup. Royals had the budget of just INR 13 crores while Brook was bought by SunRisers Hyderabad for INR 13.25 crores. Though Rajasthan went all out for Brook early on, having no cushion eventually saw them letting go of their main target.
Speaking with Times of India (TOI) post the IPL 2023 mini-auction, Sangakkara revealed Royalsâ main target was Harry Brook only. Though missing out on him feels unfortunate, Sangakkara added even getting players like Jason Holder, Donovan Ferreira and Joe Root, Rajasthan did a decent business at the auction table.
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âOur main target in the first round was Brook, but unfortunately we missed out on him. But we are very happy to get Jason Holder and Donovan Ferreira among a host of good players we think are very promising. Then we could also get Joe Root. I think we have got a good squad," Sangakkara told TOI from Kochi.
Sangakkara further added when they chalked out the best XI ahead of the mini-auction, Brook was the first name on the list with Holder and Nicholas Pooran coming after him.
âIt was about which addition would make our side better, the first XI that you put out on the field. And the answer was we must target Brook. And next was Holder or maybe Nicholas Pooran. But with a limited budget we really had to plan that out,â RR head coach said.
Sangakkara also accepted they were âcaught in the middleâ during the auction in order to execute what they had planned.
âIt was a complicated kind of decision we had to make in terms of planning for the best case scenario and worst case scenario and we were caught in the middle, but we were well set with a lot of planning, data and thought being put into that. So it was a long process,â Sangakkara concluded.
Harry Brook, however, was not the costliest English player to be sold in IPL 2023 mini-auction. While Ben Stokes went for as hefty as INR 16.25 crores to Chennai Super Kings, it was the young all-rounder Sam Curran who was bought by Punjab Kings for a record-breaking INR 18.50 crores, making him the most expensive player to be bought in IPL history.