On a day when IPL heavyweights like Shaun Marsh, Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn went unsold, and others like Yuvraj Singh and Martin Guptill barely got through the auction, some uncapped Indian players stole the spotlight by going for huge sums.
Here are the young guns who won big at the auction for the 2019 season of the Indian Premier League:
1. Varun Chakravarthy
This mystery spinner from Tamil Nadu entered the auction with a base price of Rs 20 lakh, but was sold for a whopping Rs 8.4 crore to Kings XI Punjab. He, along with Jaydev Unadkat, became the most expensive player to be sold in this year’s auction.
The 27-year-old, who made a name for himself in Tamil Nadu Premier League 2018, only came back to cricket at the age of 25, after having left it for a regular job in his younger days.
2. Shivam Dube
This all-rounder also asked just Rs 20 lakh as his base price. He was bagged by Royal Challengers Bangalore for 25 times that amount – Rs 5 crore.
The 25-year-old made headlines during the eliminator of the Mumbai T20 league this year, when he hit five sixes in an over.
His heroics have even impressed former cricketers, with Sunil Gavaskar going as far as comparing the explosive batsman to the likes of Saurav Ganguly and Yuvraj Singh.
3. Prabhsimran Singh
One of the youngest guys to be sold on Tuesday, this 17-year-old was bought by Kings XI Punjab for Rs 4.8 crore. Unsurprisingly, even Singh entered the auction with a base price of Rs 20 lakh.
Punjab’s Prabhsimran has played only four List A matches and was part of the Indian team which finished as runners-up at the recent ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup in Sri Lanka. He idolises explosive Virender Sehwag and Adam Gilchrist. The attacking batsman hit a jaw-dropping 298 runs off just 301 balls for Patiala in an Under-23 game against Amritsar earlier this year.
Prabhsimran’s cousin Anmolpreet Singh was also part of the auctioned players. He was picked up by Mumbai Indians for Rs 80 lakh.
4. Akshdeep Nath
This wicketkeeper-batsman from Uttar Pradesh was sold to Royal Challengers Bangalore for Rs 3.6 crore.
In the 2017 edition of the IPL, the 25-year old was sold to Gujarat Lions for Rs 10 lakh.
5. Prayas Ray Barman
Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore shelled out Rs 1.5 crore for 16-year-old Prayas Ray Barman, who is an all-rounder from Bengal, making him the youngest player to be sold in Tuesday’s auction.
Barman, a leg-break bowler, is just nine List A games old but was very impressive during the Vjjay Hazare Trophy.
(With inputs from PTI)
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