He was one of the few surprise bids in last year’s auction, going for an amount 20 times his base price of Rs 10 lakh. But after getting no games during IPL 2017, K Gowtham was not one of the uncapped players expected to attract a bidding war at the auction this year.
However, the Karnataka cricketer was bought by Rajasthan Royals for a whopping Rs 6.2 crore – 31 times his base price of Rs 20 lakh – after Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians fervently bid for him along with Steve Smith’s team.
Gowtham has been around since 2008 when he was invited to play against a touring Australian side and made his first-class debut in 2012. However, after a gap of three years, he took the field for Karnataka in the summer of 2016. He picked up 27 wickets in eight matches including a career-best 7 for 108.
In the 27 T20s he’s played so far, right-arm offbreak bowler Gowtham has picked up 20 wickets at an average of 28.95 and economy rate of 7.06. He also scored 310 runs at a strike rate of 159.79 and average of 16.31.
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