Kolkata, Dec. 17 -- There is not enough logic to explain why multiple franchises didn't go nuts over David Miller at the IPL mini auction in Abhu Dhabi on Tuesday. Or Quinton de Kock. Or Ben Duckett for that matter, having played a crucial part in revolutionising England's high-risk, high-reward batting approach in Tests. Sri Lankan all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga could fall in the same bracket as well, as does the lesser known Allen Finn, a sensational hitter of the cricket ball. Each of them going for their base price was a curveball to all theories that had priced them much higher than what they had signed up for. Smarter was how some franchises chose to wait for the round of accelerated bidding to shop for players they were sure would have gone unsold otherwise. A 22-ball 73 potentially set up Sarfaraz Khan for a massive payday but he was going unsold before Chennai Super Kings brought him back from the wilderness by clinching him at his base price of Rs.75 lakh. But it was Delhi Capitals who once again aced this trick, picking Kyle Jamieson for Rs.1 crore and Lungi Ngidi for Rs.2 crore but more remarkably, getting Prithvi Shaw for only Rs.75 lakh. KKR showed prudence too, bagging New Zealand opener Rachin Ravindra and home boy Akash Deep for their base prices after they had gone unsold in the main rounds. For a while it seemed Miller was going that way. His stint with Lucknow Super Giants last season hadn't gone too well but they probably couldn't utilise him. But Miller is still extremely fit, has won an IPL with Gujarat Titans only recently, and almost got South Africa home in the T20 World Cup final against India in 2024. These are compelling factors to at least place a bid on a proven match winner... which the Capitals did. This last-second bid is a strategy used by many franchises, potentially to get that player at the base price bargain. But many other franchises too subscribe to the same ploy, effectively leading to a situation of who will blink first, followed by fervent counterbidding. That's where Miller's solo bid was a shocker. It also explained why the Capitals table looked mighty pleased. No franchise was perhaps more pleased than Mumbai Indians, bagging de Kock for only Rs.1 crore. It was less than a third of what KKR had paid for him last year. And even though de Kock did return a strike rate of 130 last season, he also scored a 61-ball 97, and the familiarity with the MI dressing room means that he fits well. What stood out over and above everything was the confidence with which Mumbai Indians bid for de Kock with a purse of only Rs.2.75 crore. They had adopted a similar strategy with Cameron Green as well, though it seemed pretty bold given there was no way MI could have kept up with the bigger purses of KKR or Chennai Super Kings. De Kock's bid, however, carried a sense of inevitability to it....