Why KKR Bought Starc, SRH Cummins, MI Coetzee, GT Johnson...

'All the venues are high-scoring venues. So what you need is pace.'
'You really want someone to come there and control the flow of runs in the death overs, whether you are setting a target or setting a target.'
'It is going to be the fast bowlers because at how many venues have you seen spinners bowling the death overs?'

One of the leading sports analysts in the world, Prasanna Agoram enjoys a huge following on social media for his sharp analysis of cricket matches.

An analyst for the South African team for nearly 11 years, Prasanna also enjoyed stints in tennis, hockey and was much-sought after in IPL teams and had stints with the Royal Challengers Bangalore, Rising Pune Supergiants, Delhi Daredevils and Punjab Kings.

Prasanna, who is currently the High Performance Manager for the Lions cricket team in South African domestic cricket, was instrumental in bringing the incomparable A B de Villiers to RCB after he managed to convince then head coach Ray Jennings to sign up the youngster at any cost.

He even worked with tennis great Rafael Nadal for a brief while and also worked with the Indian hockey team and the India Under-19 cricket team.

Prasanna's expert analysis on the IPL 2024 Auction in Dubai were illuminating and incisive. He believes the Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians made some smart buys at the auction and have only gotten stronger.

Prasanna, who hails from Tamil Nadu, is a qualified electronics engineer. His first assignment in cricket was with the BCCI's National Cricket Academy in 2005 before he worked with Indian juniors during the Under-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka in 2006.

After working with the Indian hockey team, he joined RCB in 2008 where he worked with South African stars Jacques Kallis and Dale Steyn paving his way to the Proteas national team -- the first Indian to be part of the support staff of a foreign Test playing nation.

In an exclusive interview with Rediff.com's Harish Kotian, Prasanna asserts that the Australian duo of Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins deserved their huge price tags at the auction and it is unfair to compare their remuneration to Jasprit Bumrah or Virat Kohli.

The first of a multi-part interview:

There have been some misgivings over Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins' price tag at the auction.
What is your take on their Rs 20-crore plus price tags for the Australian pacers?

It is people's perspective seeing the price tags of the players. It is not about the price tag, but the value that player brings.

Pat Cummins is someone who can get into the leadership role. I expect him to lead Sunrisers Hyderabad. We have seen how he led the Australian side in the World Cup.

Winning a World Cup in India is not a joke. You saw his captaincy in the final, the decision at the toss, taking a huge risk to chase in Ahmedabad. The kind of field settings he had.

Similarly with Starc, he is a genuine match winner. He can strike upfront in the Powerplay. He is a value adding guy. He is going to be someone who will give everything for the team.

The only issue is that the teams have picked them for such high prices because they know where they can create an impact in the team.

It is only the people who are looking at the price tag, saying 'It is too much for a player like Cummins or Starc who will only bowl 24 balls in a match'. It is up to the team management to decide where they fit in and what value they add.

Why do you associate the price tag with the player? See the value add of the player and how he is going to fit into the combination of the team.

You will see how strong KKR will be after the addition of Starc and how strong SRH will be with the inclusion of Cummins. That is what people should be thinking about rather than talk about the price tag.

Five of the six costliest buys at this auction were pace bowlers. Why was there such demand for pacers this time around?

The answer for this is very, very, simple. IPL has become a high-scoring tournament. You tell me how many venues have low-scoring games. Unfortunately, it was Lucknow which had a two-paced pitch and not many runs were scored and to an extent Chennai as well.

Apart from those two venues, on which pitch have you seen the bowling team defending a target of 140?

Can you guarantee teams defending a target of 140 in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Mohali, Jaipur? Not at all.

All the venues are high-scoring venues. So what you need is pace. You really want someone to come there and control the flow of runs in the death overs, whether you are setting a target or setting a target.

So it is clearly evident that the teams have added to their pace attack, Starc for KKR, Cummins for SRH, Gerald Coetzee for MI.

Then you have Spencer Johnson who was bought by Gujarat Titans for Rs 10 crore (Rs 100 million). Not many people have seen him, he is a good talent. He has played only 20 T20 games.

It is all about the talent scouting. You see a player really fit the bill, you get him.

It is going to be the fast bowlers because at how many venues have you seen spinners bowling the death overs? How many spinners are there who bowl the death overs apart from Sunil Narine? How many teams are even using spinners in the death overs?

So it is very simple that to control the flow of runs in the death overs, you need fast bowlers, fast bowlers who are quick, fast, bowlers who can bowl bouncers, fast bowlers who can bowl yorkers.

Now the rule has been changed to two bouncers, so just imagine a guy like Gerald Coetzee, who clocks 150kmph regularly, or Starc, who bowls in the range of 140-150kmph. Cummins can also get into that range. Even someone like Dilshan Madushanka is quick.

Imagine now these guys have the leverage of bowling two bouncers in an over and that could be very effective in the death overs.

Starc earning double what someone like Jasprit Bumrah earns: Is that justified? How do you explain the auction dynamics to an Indian cricket fan?

There is no way you can compare how much Starc is earning as compared to Bumrah. You got to understand that Starc is coming in the third year of the auction and when you come in the third year of the auction, you have only few slots to fill and most of the teams are already settled. Every team went into the auction with a handsome purse.

The next year you will have a mega auction for IPL 2025. I don't see any of them touching even Rs 15 crore or Rs 16 crore because you have to rebuild your team from scratch.

What you are allowed is only five retentions, so you have to pick around 17 to 18 players at that auction and with the budget that you get there is nowhere you can expect a fast bowler going for around Rs 25 crore or Rs 20 crore.

So, you can't compare Starc's price with Bumrah, who has been part of the MI set-up for a long time. If you had put Bumrah at the third auction, he would have probably got more than what Starc and Cummins got.

I don't think there is any point in comparing Starc and Bumrah. If you see both of them going into the main auction, then you can compare.

Someone who is a strong player, someone who is a match-winner and if he comes into the third auction with teams having limited slots to fill, it is quite obvious he will go for a higher price.

Even in my previews I had said that Starc will go for Rs 15 crore. Of course, Rs 25 crore is not a price which even I hadn't expected. But it is not a surprise for me also because with Starc there is a value addition which the team feels and which cannot be questioned and compared with other players as such.

Which team would say made the smartest buys at the auction?

I definitely Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians have made some good buys at the auction because they filled in exactly what they needed. MI played it to the play-offs last season and they made it to the second Qualifier and finished third while CSK were the champions.

Both the teams have brought in like-for-replacements at the auction which has only strengthened their teams from the last edition. You can again expect both teams to do well and at least get into the play-offs because they have filled in the gaps and got the required players. So I would say MI and CSK were the top two teams at the auction.

Would you say players like Wanindu Hasaranga at Rs 1.5 crore and Rachin Ravindra for Rs 1.8 crore were the steals of the auction?

Absolutely! If you see the spinner of the stature of Wanindu Hasaranga it is extremely surprisingly and even Rachin Ravindra, who showed during the World Cup what he is capable of in the 50-overs format and I am sure he will be a star player in the T20 format as well. He is also a handy left-arm spinner, who can bowl two or even four overs on pitches which offer a bit of spin.

I don't understand why the other teams didn't even try to hike the price to make sure the teams which go for Ravindra exhaust their purse and make it easy for their picks. It is extremely surprising that no other teams tried to push up their rates, it is an absolute steal.

Even someone like Azmatullah Omarzai, who did so well in the World Cup, was brought by Gujarat Titans for Rs 50 lakh which again is a steal.

What does Daryl Mitchell bring to the table because CSK paid a hefty Rs 14 crore for him?

Please don't say that Daryl Mitchell has gone for a hefty Rs 14 crore. That is an excellent move by CSK.

If you see they only had Devon Conway at the top of the order and if he failed they didn't have any replacement like last year.

Now they have some very good replacements. Rachin Ravindra can come in for Devon Conway and Daryl Mitchell can come in for Moeen Ali.

The two overs of spin which Moeen used to bowl for CSK, Rachin Ravindra can bowl and Moeen's batting can be compensated by a much-better Mitchell, who is a brilliant fielder and can also bowl an over or two.

So it has been very clear that CSK have been phenomenal in what they did, getting those replacements. They might start with the original playing XI which they played last year with the exception of Ambati Rayudu.

I don't think CSK have paid a hefty amount for Mitchell, but their buys at the auction have only made their team stronger.

• Part 2: 'Dhoni may play another IPL season'