ipl: IPL: Franchises splurge big money on home T20 stars as Kishan, Chahar attract biggest bids
Kishan’s Rs 15.25 crore winning bid from Mumbai Indians pipped the Rs 14 crore figure that CSK offered to retain Deepak Chahar on Saturday.
Franchises showed prudence in overall spending but didn’t hesitate to loosen the purse strings for proven performers, especially Indians.
In terms of US Dollars, there were 19 million-plus buys, the biggest by far at any IPL auction with most of the beneficiaries being Indian T20 specialists.
It was a satisfying ‘Pay Day’ for all current India internationals with Shreyas Iyer getting a staggering Rs 12.25 crore deal from Kolkata Knight Riders and Shardul Thakur making Delhi Capitals break the bank with a Rs 10.75 crore bid.
These two, along with Kishan and Chahar, were the top four buys of the day.
“I’m really excited to be back at MI. I know everyone has treated me there like a family so I am really happy to be there and I hope to give my best to the team. Thank you so much,” said the 23-year-old Kishan in a video posted on his twitter handle.
Young pacer Prasidh Krishna (Rs 10 crore) was paid big by Rajasthan Royals for his timely Player of the Series performance against the West Indies while Washington Sundar, another India regular, also got richer by Rs 8.75 crore.
Yuzvendra Chahal would be a bit cross as he came late in the day and could only get Rs 6.5 crore from Rajasthan Royals.
Even Nitish Rana, not an India regular but an IPL performer, was retained for Rs 8 crore by KKR while uncapped Rahul Tripathi, who has been consistent in the league, deservingly got Rs 8.50 crore.
Shahrukh Khan, another formidable domestic T20 finisher but one with a base price of a mere Rs 20 lakh, was taken for an astonishing Rs 9 crore by Punjab Kings.
Rajasthan’s former one-season wonder Rahul Tewatia was lapped up by Gujarat Titans for a ming-boggling Rs 9 crore.
It wasn’t an auction to remember for the old guard and only two 35-plus players — Shikhar Dhawan (Rs 8.25 crore) and Ravichandran Ashwin (Rs 5 crore) — got good deals.
Among other seniors Mohammed Shami was snapped by Gujarat Titans for Rs 6.25 crore. His new ball partner Bhuvneshwar Kumar got Rs 4.6 crore from Sunrisers.
While this was the last mega auction, what was impressive was the discretion that franchises used while buying players as the focus was on top Indian players available in the market and currently playing white-ball cricket.
Auctioneer collapses mid auction, stable now; Charu Sharma steps in
Veteran auctioneer Hugh Edmeades collapsed while conducting the IPL players’ auction and was replaced by sports presenter Charu Sharma for the remainder of the event as he received medical care after a preliminary check-up that found him “stable”.
“Mr. Hugh Edmeades, the IPL Auctioneer, had an unfortunate fall due to Postural Hypotension during the IPL Auction this afternoon. The medical team attended to him immediately after the incident & he is stable,” read a statement from IPL.
