Seamer Jaydev Unadkat became the first millionaire on day two of the IPL auction in Bengaluru, as well as the most expensive Indian buy over the two days. Rajasthan Royals made the winning bid: INR 11.5 crore (USD 1.8 million approx). The bidding went back and forth between Chennai Super Kings and Kings XI Punjab till INR 11 crore – the most paid for an Indian on day one – before Royals swooped in.
Australia seamer Andrew Tye also fetched in excess of a million – one of only two players to do so before lunch – going to Kings XI for INR 7.2 crore (USD 11m approx). Legspinner Sandeep Lamichhane, meanwhile, became the first ever player from Nepal to be bought at the auction; he went for INR 20 lakh (USD 31,000 approx) to Delhi Daredevils.
Karnataka offspinner K Gowtham set the pace early in the day, going for 31 times his base price to Royals for a shade below a million dollars. Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians were the other teams involved in the bidding, his price rocketing up from INR 20 lakh (USD 31,250 approx) to INR 6.2 crore (USD 968,000 approx).
The first sale of the day was another uncapped Indian spinner, legbreak bowler Rahul Chahar. He was picked up by Mumbai INR 1.9 crore (USD 296,000 approx). Just before lunch, his brother Deepak Chahar was bought by CSK for INR 80 lakh (USD 125,000 approx). Deepak was the top wicket-taker in India’s domestic T20 tournament, the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, this season with 19 strikes and an economy rate of 5.58 in nine games.
It was Royals who opened the bidding overall on a day when in effect 471 new players were up for grabs, plus any of the unsold players from day one whom the franchises were interested in. On day one, 78 out of 110 players were bought, with heavyweights like Chris Gayle and Lasith Malinga finding no takers.
Like on day one, several higher-profile names did not get a bid today, including Australia’s Shaun Marsh, England’s Eoin Morgan and West Indies’ Lendl Simmons. These players can be called back at the end of the day if any team asks for them to be brought back into the bidding.
The first Right To Match (RTM) card of the day was used by RCB on left-arm spinning allrounder Pawan Negi – he was taken off Mumbai for INR 1 crore (USD 156,000 approx). Two more came in quick succession when the pace bowlers’ set began: Royals retained Dhawal Kulkarni (INR 75 lakh, USD 117,000 approx) and Kings XI held on to Mohit Sharma (INR 2.4 crore, USD 375,000 approx). Mohit was CSK’s first bid of the day, 32 players in, and they thought they had him till Kings XI played the RTM. Given how CSK went after Mohit and Unadkat, they were clearly looking to fill the fast-bowling hole in their squad.
Last year two Afghanistan players were picked up at the auction. This time that doubled to four with experienced allrounder Mohammad Nabi (Sunrisers for INR 1 crore or USD 156,000 approx) and Under-19 players – both of whom are at the ongoing World Cup in New Zealand – Mujeeb Zadran and Zahir Khan getting bids today, in addition to Rashid Khan from day one. Sixteen-year-old Zadran, who can bowl traditional offspin and mix it up with legspin when required, was picked up by Kings XI after some extensive bidding for INR 4 crore (USD 625,000 approx). Zahir is a left-arm wristspinner who went to Royals for INR 60 lakh (USD 93,000 approx).
Source: ESPN Crickinfo