Saurashtra cricketer Jaydev Unadkat became the second most expensive player in this IPL season after England all-rounder Ben Stokes. The left-arm pacer went for a mind boggling £1.15 million while Ben Stokes fetched £1.25 million. Bothe of them were grabbed by Rajasthan Royals.
Starting off at a base price of £150,000, the 26-year-old was among the hot picks given his T20 credentials which includes 24 wickets last season. Chennai Super Kings were the first to bid for him and Kings XI Punjab jumped in immediately. Rajasthan Royals, who were mute spectators until the bid crossed the £1.1 million mark, upped the ante and made the winning bid for the Saurashtra bowler, who last season went to Rising Pune Supergiants for his base price of Rs 30,00,000.
Like last year, England all-rounder Ben Stokes, who went for £1.45 million in 2017, hit jackpot as Rajasthan Royals snapped him up for £1.25 million, making him the most expensive buy of the auction. A pending case against him made no difference to the Englishman’s market value as Chennai Super Kings made the first charge followed by Kings XI Punjab, Kolkata Knight Riders before Rajasthan Royals jumped into the bidding war and grabbed him.
Stokes was followed by KL Rahul and Manish Pandey. The batting talents from Karnataka commanded a £1.1 million each which Kings XI Punjab and Sunrisers Hyderabad paid with glee. Mitchell Starc, Rashid Khan and R Ashwin were the top bowlers to earn the mega bucks.
Afghans hit jackpot
Four players from Afghanistan generated a lot of buzz. After Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi returned to Sunrisers Hyderabad, 16-year-old Mujeeb Zadran and Zahir Khan went to Punjab and Rajasthan Royals respectively.
Investment in future
With an eye on the future, the franchisees picked a total of seven India U-19 players, of whom four were bought on the second day. Speed gun Shivam Mavi went for £300,000 to Kolkata Knight Riders while big hitters Abhishek Sharma and Manjot Kalra were both snapped up by Delhi Daredevils. Left-arm spinner Anukul Roy headed to the Mumbai Indians camp.
A first for Nepal cricket
Nepal’s spin bowler Sandeep Lamichhane became the first player from Nepal to bag an IPL contract when Delhi got him. The 17-year-old is highly rated by former Australian skipper Michael Clarke, who mentored him during a league in Hong Kong.
Gayle gets third time lucky
West Indies big-hitter Chris Gayle, a marquee player who went unsold on the opening day and in the second session of the second day, emerged lucky the third time when Punjab successfully bid for him. Likewise, Murali Vijay too was brought in the first round of the accelerated process by Chennai Super Kings. Another current international Parthiv Patel headed to Royal Challengers Bangalore as did Mitchell Johnson and Tim Southee. Among the big names who failed to attract any bidders were Dale Steyn, Eoin Morgan, Martin Guptill, Joe Root, Nathan Lyon and Tymal Mills, who was the second most expensive player last season.
