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Lockie Ferguson was sold at his base price, that too in the accelerated round.
Lockie Ferguson, the experienced 32-year old pacer from New Zealand was bought by the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the recently held IPL auction. He was left unsold during the initial wave of the bid. Later Fergson found a home in RCB. Initially set at a modest base price of 2 crore, Ferguson was attracted to only a single bid during the accelerated auction, but it was enough to land him a coveted IPL contract.
It was quite surprising that no other team was interested in his services depite his skills, pace, experience and x-factor. Eventually, looking at a few squads, it seems like a few other teams could have certainly pushed for Ferguson. Here's a look at three teams that should have tried harder to acquire his services:
Delhi Capitals
The Delhi Capitals have three highlly-skilled and experienced overseas pacers including Anrich Nortje, Jhye Richardson and Lungisani Ngidi. However, the first two of the lot are quite injury-prone. Ngidi, on the other hand, can be expensive at times. Hence, it would have served them well to get their hands on Lockie Ferguson, who would be handful at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.
The fact that they still had a purse of close to 10 Crores remaining tells us that money was certainly not an issue for the Rishabh Pant led side. They splurged a lot of money on wicketkeepers and that is understood considering that Pant will most likely to play as a specialist batter. They could have done it without Shai Hope. Hope doesn't have great numbers in the shortest format of the game. Hence, a pacer would have been a better option.
Gujarat Titans
Gujarat Titans, last year's runners-up is another team which could have pursued Ferguson. They bought an inexperienced Spencer Johnson for a massive amount of 10 crores which was quite a shocker. The 28-year old Australian have played just 21 T20s and hence, in acquiring him, they've gambled. They would have been better served. Only if they had acquired an experienced player who previously featured in the IPL. Ferguson's low demand means that they would have saved additional money as well.
Now, they have two overseas bowlers with less experience on Indian soil- Johnson and Josh Little. They have a good Indian core in Mohit Sharma, Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav but, if a couple of them have bad seasons, their bowling line-up will be in for a hard time.
Punjab Kings
The Punjab Kings, who like the Capitals, are still searching for their first IPL win, they should have considered the acquisition of Ferguson. Punjab have a couple of exceptional overseas bowlers in Kagiso Rabada and Nathan Ellis but, then they also have Sam Curran and Chris Woakes in their side. While Curran has been extremely expensive in recent times, Woakes has not mastered Indian condition yet.
Their Indian pacers are not too reliable either. Harshal Patel and Arshdeep SIngh are both capable of leaking runs and so, a hit the deck bowler, capable of sending down thunderbolts would have been a great presence in their dressing room. They spent 4.2 Crores on Woakes when they should have really invested in a geunine speed merchant to add a different dimension to their attack.