Aakash Chopra expresses surprise at three overseas stars going unsold in IPL 2026 Auction

New Delhi [India], December 18 : Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra expressed surprise at New Zealand all-rounder Michael Bracewell and England's fiery wicketkeeper-batters Jamie Smith and Jonny Bairstow not finding any takers in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 auction.
During the IPL auction, headlines were made with Aussie all-rounder Cameron Green going to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for Rs 25.20 crores and domestic talents like Aquib Nabi (to Delhi Capitals), Prashant Veer and Karthik Sharma (to Chennai Super Kings) and Mangesh Yadav (to Royal Challengers Bengaluru) getting their domestic/state league cricket grind rewarded with massive paydays, but it did have some surprises in form of players like Bracewell, Jamie and Bairstow going unsold, despite teams searching talent to fill up roles played by them.
Speaking about Bracewell, Aakash said on his Youtube Channel, "I do not know what's wrong with the IPL. There is a player named Michael Bracewell. Don't know why no one rates him. He is a phenomenal player. I still remember the century he scored against India in Hyderabad. Plenty of teams needed an off-spinner batter. I felt Chennai would be interested in him. I felt LSG would be interested in him. At least some team should have been interested in him, but no one was interested. Very, very surprising," he said.
In 47 T20Is, Bracewell has scored 434 runs at an average of 19.34, SR of almost 134, with two fifties in 31 innings and picked 35 wickets at an average of 21.91. Overall in all of T20Is, he has scored 3,455 runs at an average of 26.37, with a century and 18 fifties and 96 wickets at an average of 25.20 in 203 matches.
Aakash next went on to point out how much of a "gun player" Jamie is, given his versatility to bat up and down the order.
"Jamie Smith, how did he go unsold? He came three times. Someone put his name every time in the auction list. He was shortlisted for both accelerators, and then no one bought him. It was beyond my understanding. Jamie is a wicketkeeper-batter who bats both up and down the order. He is a gun player, but not to be seen. I am very, very surprised. I have got no logic. Logic has failed here," he added.
While Jamie has scored just 130 runs in five T20Is with a fifty and SR of over 194 for England, his overall T20 resume is solid, having made 1,687 runs in 97 matches and 82 innings at an average of 24.44, with a strike rate of over 144, including nine fifties.
On Bairstow, who played for MI last season as an injury replacement, "Logic has failed for Jonny Bairstow. Tim Seifert, Finn Allen, Rachin Ravindra, Ben Duckett, Pathum Nissanka, Tom Banton and Quinton de Kock got sold, but there is no place for Jonny Bairstow, who played so well in the couple of matches he played last season. He would have been available for the entire season," he added.
Bairstow has scored 6,031 runs in 249 T20s at an average of 30.77, with an SR of 139.15, including five centuries and 31 fifties. He is one of the most prominent faces of England's T20I line-up, having made 1,671 runs in 80 matches at an average of almost 30, SR of above 137 and 10 fifties.