#TFGtake: KKR's disinterest in Stokes inexplicabe, but what were the Supergiants thinking?

EVEN BEFORE the IPL-10 auction dates were finalised, the talk was already about the English players, especially Ben Stokes as the potential big-buy.  

As expected, we saw how the franchises went all guns blazing to absorb the mercurial all-rounder. From RCB, MI, SRH to DD, everybody showed great interest, but eventually, the Rising Pune Supergiants had the last laugh at the expense of mammoth 14.5cr. 

While the exorbitant bidding was not a surprise, the lack of interest shown by the Knight Riders was certainly shocking. Considering Andre Russell’s unavailability for the entire season, it would have only been logical to rope in Stokes as a like-for-like replacement for the Jamaican. 

As KKR remained surprisingly silent, RPS cashed in as they had to rope in match-winners after having released quite a few names following a dismal debut in 2016. However, although Pune nailed Stokes, they ended up exhausting a large chunk of their budget in the process. 

Speaking on Stokes’ selection, RPS head coach Stephen Fleming explained, 

"We didn't get a chance until later. There was too much bidding. We have got good young players. We now are in a situation to back youngsters and we have some big-time players. There is an element of risk when you spend big-time money, but we are ready to take that risk. We look strong on paper. It's the top 8 that you really have to respect. You have got three captains so you have leadership. We have bowlers, all-rounders in Mitch Marsh and Stokes."

As we have seen in the past, rarely does a single player win the IPL trophy all by himself. Sure, Stokes will have a huge impact for Pune, but was blowing up all the money on one player justified? 

It was no secret that team owners would go hammer and tongs for Stokes and knowing that, RPS should have done their homework better. They should have also sniffed how the old-school strategy of inflating prices at the auction might play a spoiler. With a few franchises playing naughty, Pune should have let Stokes go in pursuit of creating a better-balanced squad.

Furthermore, they should have known how thin their bowling was in the last season and should have been driven to add more potency to that department. Sadly, after paying an astronomical price for Stokes, Pune had only a few crores left to fill-up the bowling slot. Instead of pouching quality seam-bowling all-rounders, they were helplessly watching Pat Cummins, Chris Woakes and Chris Jordan join other camps. Match-winning pacers in Kagiso Rababa, Mitch Johnson and Trent Boult too slipped from Pune’s grasp. In the end, they could only manage to buy rookie Kiwi pacer, Lockie Ferguson. 

The Supergiants also lost the opportunity to rope in Jason Roy or Alex Hales, who could have provided the much-needed impetus at the top. Sure, Faf du Plessis, Usman Khawaja and Ajinkya Rahane are accomplished T20 batsmen at the top, but the pyrotechnics of the above mentioned Englishmen can be rarely matched.

Lesser budget also meant sacrificing on Indian strength. Although the batting is reasonably placed in the hands of Mayank Agarwal, Manoj Tiwary and MS Dhoni, the bowling appears severely undercooked with Ashok Dinda, Ishwar Pandey, Jaskaran Singh and Jaidev Unadkat. On the spin front too, R Ashwin is looking for a fellow countryman to step up and complement him. 

Worse, what if Stokes gets injured? Although, Pune have done well with the replacements in Dan Christian and Mitch Marsh, but wouldn’t it mean dealing with those bad old memories again from last season? 

No doubt, the Supergiants were unlucky with all the injuries to their marquee names last year, but they had an ideal platform to make amends and resurrect their IPL campaign heading into the second season. Unfortunately, though, after today’s auction, there is little to suggest that they are on their road to recovery. Or at least, their bizarre buys don't indicate any promise for the time being.