The IPL mega auction Day 2 started strong enough but there were few takers for spinners, Indian batsmen and even a few pace bowlers.
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The IPL mega auction slowed down considerably as more lots were drawn. This was in part due to teams being more choosy but also because a good number of marquee names were not brought out.
The third lot of the day was that of fast bowlers. Khaleel Ahmed was the surprise of the lot; the Indian left-arm pacer bagged a whopping Rs. 5.25 crores contract from the Delhi Capitals.
Undeterred, the Capitals added another left-arm seamer in Chetan Sakariya to the side. Given they also have Mustafizur Rahman in the squad, that means a total of three left-arm seamers.
Navdeep Saini (Rs. 2.6 crore to Rajasthan Royals) and Dushmanta Chameera (Rs. 2 crore to Lucknow Super Giants) also got decent deals, as did Jaydev Unadkat (Rs 1.3 crores to Mumbai Indians).
Sandeep Sharma returned to Punjab Kings for his base price of Rs. 50 lakhs. However Lungi Ngidi, Sheldon Cottrell and Ishant Sharma all went unsold.
The strategy for the next lot featuring spinners was also evident, as teams looked for bargain buys. Only three spinners were signed; Mayank Markande went to Mumbai Indians for Rs. 65 lakhs, Shahbaz Nadeem to Lucknow Super Giants for Rs. 50 lakhs and Maheesh Theekshana to Chennai Super Kings for Rs. 70 lakhs.
But Tabraiz Shamsi, Qais Ahmed, Karn Sharma, Ish Sodhi and Piyush Chawla found no buyers. Of course, the most inactivity was reserved for the final lot before lunch.
This featured uncapped batsmen and started with five players – Virat Singh, Himmat Singh, Sachin Baby, Harnoor Singh and Himanshu Rana – all go unsold.
Rinku Singh returned to Kolkata Knight Riders for Rs. 55 lakhs, and Manan Vohra was snared up by Lucknow Super Giants for his base price.
The final player in this lot, Ricky Bhui, also went unsold.
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.
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