Dubai: India’s most promising left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat and Australia pacer Andrew Tye joined the millionaire club on the second day of the Indian Premier League auction in Bengaluru. Unadkat was roped in by Rajasthan Royals for $1.8 million while Tye got bought by Kings XI Punjab for $1.1million.
West Indies’s hard-hitter Chris Gayle, who was brought back to the bidding table for a third time, got bought by Punjab for his base price of $314,613 after struggling to get any buyers due to his erratic form.
Rajasthan, who had snapped up Ben Stokes for a whopping $1.96 million to make the costliest purchase on the opening day of the auction on Saturday, went for Unadkat to strengthen their squad which will be led by Australia skipper Steve Smith. They also went for an uncapped Indian off spinner Krishnappa Gowtham spending close to $1million.
Like England Test captain Joe Root who went unsold, even England’s One-day team captain Eoin Morgan had no takers. Surprisingly, England’s hardest hitting batsman Alex Hales too went unsold.
The second day of auction turned out to be a good day for Afghanistan players. Allrounder Mohammad Nabi got sold to Hyderabad for $156,000 while their promising 16-year-old off spinner Mujeeb Zadran got picked by Punjab for $625,000. Their another left-arm wrist spinner Zahir Khan was taken by Rajasthan for $ 93,000. Nepal’s 17-year-old leg spinner Sandeep Lamichhane became the first player to be picked for IPL when Delhi Daredevils got him for $31,000. Lamichhane had caught the attention during the 2016 Under-19 World Cup by taking a hat-trick during his 5 for 27 spell to set up an eight-wicket win over Ireland.
South African pacer Dale Steyn, who showed that he wasn’t as fit as before during the ongoing India-South Africa Test series went unsold but pacer Lungisani Ngidi, who replaced Steyn during the Test series and produced deadly spells, was bought by Chennai for $78,623.
Other surprises that went unsold include New Zealand all-rounder Corey Anderson, Australians Shaun Marsh and Nathan Lyon but Australia all-rounder Dan Christian got sold to Delhi Daredevils for $238,000. Though New Zealand’s Martin Guptill, like Gayle, was called up three times, but did not get a bid.
Interestingly, Mumbai Indians got West Indies’ left-handed opener Evin Lewis for $600,000. They also got an uncapped leg break bowler in Rahul Chahar for $296,000. Rahul’s brother Deepak Chahar was bought by Chennai for $125,000. Incidentally, Deepak was the highest wicketaker in India’s leading domestic T20 tournament Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. He picked 19 wickets from nine games.
The first team to use Right To Match (RTM) card on day two was Rajasthan. They retained left-arm spinning allrounder Pawan Negi after Mumbai got him for $156,000. Rajasthan also retained Dhawal Kulkarni for $117,000 .
Like Gayle, some of the other top players who got benefited on second day are Indian opener M Vijay whom Chennai Super Kings purchased for $312,000. Wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel got snapped by Bangalore for $265,000. Even the Australia pacer Mitchell Johnson got picked by Kolkata for $312,000.
