IPL auction: Aiden Markram, Mandeep Singh and Ajinkya Rahane only players sold at beginning of Day 2

The second day of the IPL auction ahead of the 2022 season got off to quite a slow start. In the capped players category, only three players were picked up by the franchises.

The day began with Aiden Markram’s name being pulled from the bag, and he attracted some interest. He was eventually sold to Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs 2.6 crore.

This raised some hopes that the early parts of the day would feature plenty of back-and-forth auction action from the franchises.

Also read: Ishan Kishan Becomes Highest Bid Player in IPL 2022 Mega Auction, Goes to Mumbai Indians for Rs 15.25 Crore

And the second player out of the bag, Ajinkya Rahane, also found a home in Kolkata Knight Riders. However, he only fetched a contract worth his base price of Rs. 1 crore.

Jinks got our back! ?#KKR #AmiKKR #IPLAuction #GalaxyOfKnights #TATAIPLAuction

— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) February 13, 2022

Mandeep Singh bagged a Rs. 1.1 crore contract from Delhi Capitals and he did see a couple of teams bid for him. However, that was the extent of the players being bought and sold.

The likes of Dawid Malan, Eoin Morgan, Marnus Labuschagne, Saurabh Tiwary, Aaron Finch and Cheteshwar Pujara all went unsold.

It remains to be seen if any of these players get a chance to return in the accelerated auction later in the day.

IPL auction goes mega

The 2022 edition of the IPL auction is set to be one of the biggest in recent memory. This is because of the addition of two new franchises into the fold.

Yes, the IPL is now back to being a 10-team tournament. This is not the first time such a concept has been trialled; the league switched to a similar format back in 2011 too.

However, the two new teams would get caught up in financial issues and fold soon enough. The two new teams for 2022, Lucknow Super Giants and Gujarat Titans, will hope to avoid a similar fate.

Also read: Shreyas Iyer goes to KKR for Rs 12.25 crore

As things stand, both new teams have made some interesting signings before the auction. Gujarat will be captained by Hardik Pandya, and the team also has Afghanistan all-rounder Rashid Khan and Indian batsman Shubman Gill in their ranks.

Lucknow, on the other hand, have signed KL Rahul as their skipper along with Australian all-rounder Marcus Stoinis and uncapped Indian spinner Ravi Bishnoi.