The eighth lot of players in the IPL auction were all-rounders who had not earned international caps. And there was plenty of money spent by the franchises.
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The spinners might not have gotten much love from teams in the IPL auction, but the same cannot be said for the uncapped all-rounders.
One of the biggest sums spent was on Shahrukh Khan, who sparked a massive bidding war between Punjab Kings and Chennai Super Kings. In the end, the Mohali franchise got their man back – but for a whopping Rs. 9 crore.
The exact same sum was spent on Rahul Tewatia. The spin-bowling all-rounder, who played for Rajasthan Royals until last season, is now part of the Gujarat Titans.
The Titans had to outlast the Super Kings in another massive bidding war to secure his signing. And it took a lot of back and forth before they secured their man.
Another unexpected big-money signing was Abhishek Verma. At a base price of Rs. 20 lakhs, he bagged a contract worth Rs. 6.5 crore from Sunrisers Hyderabad.
It is worth noting that Shahrukh and PBKS’ reunion wasn’t the only one in the offing. Riyan Parag rejoined the Rajasthan Royals but at a bigger contract worth Rs. 3.8 crore. Harpreet Brar was signed by Punjab Kings for the exact same amount.
Shahbaz Ahmed also seemed to catch the interest of quite a few teams, but not to the tune of a massive fee. Still, a sum of Rs. 2.4 crore is a good one for him.
And Shivam Mavi, who has played for Kolkata Knight Riders since his IPL career began, was signed back by the franchise – but for a whopping Rs. 7.25 crore.
The steals of this round were Kamlesh Nagarkoti and Sarfaraz Khan, both of whom were signed by Delhi Capitaks. Nagarkoti cost Rs. 1.1 crore while Sarfaraz went for his base price of Rs. 20 lakhs.
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.
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.
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