Bengaluru: The final two hours of the 2022 IPL Mega Auction saw many previously unsold players brought back into the fold and various franchises with renewed interest signing them up to fill their remaining slots. While many got picked on second and third attempts, others like IPL stalwart Suresh Raina, India pacer Ishant Sharma, Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan, Australia ODI skipper Aaron Finch and England 50-over captain Eoin Morgan didn’t have any takers for the 2022 season.
The second-last session began with South Africa left-handed batter David Miller first to go under the hammer, with Gujarat Titans and Rajasthan Royals jumping in. Eventually, Gujarat got him in for INR 3 crore. India wicketkeeper-batter Wriddhiman Saha saw interest from Gujarat as well as Chennai Super Kings. It was Gujarat who snapped Saha for INR 1.90 crore, who followed it up by buying Australia keeper-batter Matthew Wade for INR 2.40 crore.
Kolkata Knight Riders bagged England wicketkeeper-batter Sam Billings for a base price of INR 2 crore followed by opener Alex Hales for INR 1.50L.
Chennai brought C. Hari Nishaanth and N. Jagadeesan for INR 20L while Mumbai Indians got Anmolpreet Singh for INR 20L. Mumbai were in the mix to get keeper-batter Vishnu Vinod but Sunrisers Hyderabad got him for INR 50L.
Chennai’s first buy in the round was England pacer Chris Jordan for INR 3.6 crore after edging competition from Royal Challengers Bangalore. Delhi Capitals brought in South Africa pacer Lungi Ngidi for INR 50L. Bangalore then got the services of leg-spinner Karn Sharma for INR 50L. Pacer Kuldeep Sen was snapped up by Rajasthan Royals for INR 20L.
West Indies’ opener Evin Lewis was snapped up by Lucknow Super Giants for INR 2 crore. Kolkata and Bangalore were engaged in a bid to get batter Karun Nair. Rajasthan jumped in late and won the bid to buy Nair for INR 1.40 crore followed by taking keeper-batter Dhruv Jurel for INR 20L. Hyderabad then bought New Zealand keeper-batter, Glenn Phillips, for INR 1.50 crore while his country-mate Tim Seifert was picked by Delhi Capitals for INR 50L.
Australia pacer Nathan Ellis was brought back by his previous side Punjab Kings for INR 75L followed by taking Vidarbha batter Atharva Taide for INR 20L. Afghanistan’s left-arm pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi was taken by Hyderabad for INR 50L while Ramandeep Singh was picked by Mumbai for INR 20L.
Mayank Yadav was taken by Lucknow for INR 20L while leg-spinner Tejas Baroka was picked by Rajasthan for INR 20L. Punjab Kings brought the services of Sri Lanka batter Bhanuka Rajapaksa for INR 50L followed by acquiring England all-rounder Benny Howell for INR 40L.
Gujarat acquired services of all-rounder Gurkeerat Singh for INR 50L. Kolkata brought back New Zealand pacer Tim Southee for INR 1.5 crore while Mumbai picked Rahul Buddhi for INR 20L.
Left-arm pacer Kuldip Yadav was taken by Rajasthan Royals for INR 20L while speedster Varun Aaron was acquired by Gujarat for INR 50L. Batter Ramesh Kumar was picked by Kolkata for INR 20L while Delhi’s Hrithik Shokeen was acquired by Mumbai for INR 20L. K Bhagath Verma was taken by Chennai for INR 20L while Arjun Tendulkar was brought back by Mumbai for INR 30L. Shubham Garhwal was taken by Rajasthan Royals for INR 20L.
After a five-minute break, teams had to submit two names for the final round of acceleration. Punjab and Chennai had completed the 25-player quota while Lucknow became the first team to spend their full purse amount in the auction.
The final round began with Afghanistan off-spin all-rounder Mohammad Nabi being picked by Kolkata for INR 1 crore. It was followed by Kolkata having a reunion with India pacer Umesh Yadav for INR 2 crore. Rajasthan picked New Zealand James Neesham for INR 1.5 crore, Australia pacer Nathan Coulter-Nile for INR 2 crore, South Africa batter Rassie van der Dussen for INR 2 crore and Neesham’s country-mate Daryl Mitchell for INR 75L.
Vicky Ostwal, India’s leading wicket-taker in the 2022 U19 World Cup-winning campaign, was taken by Delhi for INR 20L. Siddharth Kaul was snapped by Bangalore for INR 75L. B Sai Sudharsan was taken by Gujarat while keeper-batter Aryan Juyal was picked by Mumbai for INR 20L.
Luvnith Sisodia was snapped by Bangalore for INR 20L while West Indies left-arm spin all-rounder Fabian Allen was brought by Mumbai for INR 75L. England pacer David Willey was taken by Bangalore for INR 2 crore while Aman Khan was picked by Kolkata for INR 20L.
Further unsold players from the auction included Sheldon Cottrell, Harnoor Singh, Mujtaba Yousuf, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ben McDermott, Moises Henriques, Akeal Hosein, Scott Kuggeleijn, Moises Henriques, Utkarsh Singh, Colin Munro, Martin Guptill, Blessing Muzarabani, Sameer Rizvi, Andrew Tye, Rohan Kadam and Qais Ahmad.
(IANS)
