"I felt Chennai would be interested in him" - Aakash Chopra's huge take on the unsold players at the IPL 2026 auction

Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra has picked Michael Bracewell among the surprisingly unsold players at the IPL 2026 auction. He opined that the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) should have been among the franchises interested in buying the New Zealand spin-bowling all-rounder.

Bracewell, who had a base price of ₹2 crore, was among the overseas players who didn't find any takers at the IPL 2026 auction. CSK opted to pick Akeal Hosein, Prashant Veer and Rahul Chahar as spin-bowling options in the mini auction in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, December 16.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, 'Aakash Chopra,' the former India opener noted that he was astonished by the franchises' decision not to bid for Bracewell at the IPL 2026 auction.

"I don't 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," Chopra said.

"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 added.

Michael Bracewell has picked up 35 wickets at an economy rate of 7.38 in 38 T20I innings. The Kiwi all-rounder has scored 434 runs at a strike rate of 133.95 in 31 T20I innings.

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"It was beyond my understanding" - Aakash Chopra on Jamie Smith going unsold at the IPL 2026 auction

Jamie Smith had a base price of ₹2 crore at the IPL 2026 auction. [P/C: Getty]

In the same video, Aakash Chopra noted that Jamie Smith going unsold at the IPL 2026 auction wasn't understandable.

"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," the cricketer-turned-commentator said.

"Jamie Smith 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.

Chopra added that Jonny Bairstow not finding any takers at the auction defied logic.

"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 observed.

Jonny Bairstow was picked by the Mumbai Indians (MI) as a temporary replacement in IPL 2025. The England wicketkeeper-batter smashed 85 runs at a strike rate of 184.78 in two innings, but didn't get any bids at the auction.