The 2020 IPL auction came to an exciting end in Kolkata on Thursday, 19 December, with as many as 62 players sold to the eight franchisees for the upcoming season.
While the teams coughed up Rs 1.4 billion for the players, quite a few players ended on the happier side of that windfall owing to a bidding war between several teams. Here’s a look at a few cricketers who got richer at the IPL auction:
Sheldon Cottrell – Kings XI Punjab (Base Price: Rs 50 lakh; Sold At: Rs 8.5 cr)
From a base price of Rs 50 lakh, Sheldon Cottrell was swooped up for a massive 17 times his base price by Kings XI Punjab who had to stave off a stiff challenge from both Delhi Capitals and Rajasthan Royals. The latter had initially opened the bidding before they backed off at Rs 2.2cr. However, it was then that the Capitals joined in and didn’t keep their paddle down until Kings XI had to spend Rs 8.5cr to secure the 30-year-old’s services.
Shimron Hetmyer – Delhi Capitals (Base Price: Rs 50 lakh; Sold At: Rs 7.5 cr)
The explosive southpaw is yet another addition to the already packed batting line-up of Delhi Capitals who have Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant in their top order. The addition of Hetmyer, who they bought for 15.5 times his base price, only adds depth in that area and they could use him judiciously in case one of their top buys underperforms or gets injured. In 20 T20s so far, Hetmyer has 279 runs under his belt at a strike rate of 125.11.
Varun Chakravarthy – Kolkata Knight Riders (Base Price: Rs 30 lakh; Sold At: Rs 4 cr)
The mystery spinner, who was sold as the joint-costliest player at last season’s IPL auction, will be in the KKR dugout this season after the two-time champions bought him for 13.34 times his base price. Varun Chakravarthy plays for Tamil Nadu in the domestic competitions and with skipper Dinesh Karthik also leading KKR, the desperation to bag his signature was evident. While he has played just one first-class game, in nine List A matches so far, Chakravarthy has 22 wickets to show for it. He got a game in the IPL last season too, where he picked up a wicket to return figures of 1/35.
Piyush Chawla – Chennai Super Kings (Base Price Rs: 50 lakh; Sold At: Rs 6.5 cr)
The former India international was released by Kolkata Knight Riders ahead of the auction and he was sold at an astonishing Rs 6.5cr to Chennai Super Kings. It came as a bit of a surprise for the former IPL champions to be shelling out 13 times Piyush Chawla’s base price as they already have quite a studded spin department with the likes of Ravindra Jadeja, Imran Tahir, Karn Sharma, Mitchell Santner and Harbhajan Singh. With Suresh Raina and Kedar Jadhav, they also have part-time options but as it stands, the veteran heads to CSK, and will want to make good use of the sluggish home pitch in Chennai.
Yashasvi Jaiswal – Rajasthan Royals (Base Price: Rs 20 lakh; Sold At: Rs 2.4 cr)
When a team spends Rs 2.4cr on a 17-year-old, there has to be a special story. For confirmation, ask anyone who has seen Yyashasvi Jaiswal play in the maidans of Mumbai and that amount, 12 times his base price, may just seem justified. Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders were both interested in the batsman before Kings XI Punjab joined the bandwagon. And by the time late entrants Rajasthan Royals swooped him up, a once pani puri-seller had become a crorepati.
Priyam Garg – Sunrisers Hyderabad (Base Price: Rs 20 lakh; Sold At: Rs 1.9 cr)
Priyam Garg, the India under-19 skipper had sparked quite a fair amount of interest even before the auction owing to his exploits in the domestic circuit but even he perhaps hadn’t thought of being sold at 9.5 times his base price. Besides Sunrisers Hyderabad, Royal Challengers Bangalore too seemed interested but they didn’t go all out to sign the teenager who has a double hundred in Ranji Trophy. In his debut season of the domestic tourney, Garg ended with more than 800 runs under his belt.
Virat Singh - Sunrisers Hyderabad (Base Price: Rs 20 lakh; Sold At: Rs 1.9 cr)
Like Garg, Sunrisers also picked up yet another India under-19 star at a similar price. And like his teammate, Virat Singh also had a base price of Rs 20 lakh and saw his fortunes go up by 9.5 times to eventually get sold at Rs 1.9cr. Sunrisers, one of the few teams who didn’t tinker around with their core set of players, seemed to be backing young talents and Virat fits the bill as a utility player. In the recently concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy, Virat had emerged as the highest run-getter for Jharkhand with 343 runs in 10 matches at a strike rate of 142.32.
Nathan Coulter-Nile – Mumbai Indians (Base Price: Rs 1 cr; Sold At: Rs 8 cr)
The Australian all-rounder was sold at eight times his base to his former side Mumbai Indians. A veteran and one well-acquainted with the proceedings of the IPL owing to his former associations with Kolkata Knight Riders, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Delhi Daredevils (now Capitals) and Mumbai Indians, Coulter-Nile will have to justify his price tag given Mumbai Indians seem to have a plan for him besides just using him as a back-up to their regulars. In 26 IPL matches so far, Coulter-Nile has picked up 36 wickets at a strike rate of 15.63.
Pat Cummins – Kolkata Knight Riders (Base Price: Rs 2 cr; Sold At: Rs 15.5 cr)
The Australian got the fattest pay cheque at the IPL auction with his current franchisee entering the auction late and landing him with just their second bid. And yes, it came in after Pat Cummins was already all set to become the costliest overseas player ever! Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Capitals were the ones who looked likely to land the bowling all-rounder but his former side, for whom he had already played for two seasons, got him with their final bid that was 7.75 times his base price.
Chris Morris – Royal Challengers Bangalore (Base Price: Rs 1.5 cr; Sold At: Rs 10 cr)
Having released 12 players before the auction, Royal Challengers Bangalore had to go for a squad overhaul and they splashed big on South African all-rounder Chris Morris, swooping him up for 6.67 times his base price. The Proteas star had played for Delhi and Chennai Super Kings and although his all-round skills will come handy, RCB perhaps went a bit carried away paying Rs 10cr for him. Kings XI Punjab and Mumbai Indians, too, seemed interested in the player but the latter had to pull away owing to cash crunch.
Glenn Maxwell – Kings XI Punjab (Base Price: Rs 2 cr; Sold At: Rs 10.75 cr)
Cometh IPL, cometh Glenn Maxwell. In stellar form this year, with two half-centuries and a century to show for it in three T20I matches so far, Maxwell was one name that was sure to attract a lot of attention... but most of it came from Kings XI Punjab who he had also led in the past. The franchisee, who coughed up 5.37 times the base price for Maxwell, only had Krishnappa Gowtham in terms of the only proper name in the all-rounder section and Maxwell’s swashbuckling ability along with his part-time off-spin is a package that they weren’t willing to let go.
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