Jaipur: Unheralded architect-turned-cricketer Varun Chakravarthy Tuesday fetched a sensational bid of `8.4 crore, more than 40 times his base price in an IPL-XII players’ auction that had an unmissable Caribbean flavour to it. However, India veteran Yuvraj Singh was snapped up by Mumbai Indians (MI) at his base price of `1 crore, that too in the second attempt.
Chakravarthy, with a base price of `20 lakh, went to Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) after a bidding war that also involved Delhi Capitals (DC), Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR). KXIP also spent big on England all-rounder Sam Curran, buying him for `7.2 crore – the highest among foreigners.
Medium pacer Jaydev Unadkat became a millionaire once again with a `8.4 crore bid from RR but the spotlight was firmly on Chakravarthy, the 27-year-old mystery spinner from Tamil Nadu who gave up a career as freelance architect to pursue cricket.
Chakravarthy has risen to prominence owing to a strong showing in the Tamil Nadu Premier League. He has been widely credited for Madurai Panthers’ maiden TNPL title win this year.
Unadkat, on the other hand, is back in the RR fold after being released at the end of the 2018 season. He had been bought for `11.5 crore by RR earlier this year.
Capped Indian players were in demand and so were the West Indies players before a 15-minute tea break at the auction. However, the 37-year-old Yuvraj, went unsold in first attempt after being ignored by all the franchises. The left-hander was however finally picked up by the Mumbai franchise when he was presented for the second time.
Besides the capped Indians, the West Indies players too were in demand with Shimron Hetmyer, Carlos Brathwaite and Nicholas Pooran bagging hefty deals in the first round of bidding. Spinner Axar Patel (Rs 5 crore), pacer Mohit Sharma (Rs 5 crore) and Mohammad Shami (Rs 4.8 crore) were the other names to fetch big bids.
Patel, who made his name at KXIP, was bought by Delhi Capitals after a bidding battle with the Punjab franchise. Shami, who turned up for Delhi last season, was sold to KXIP while Mohit went back to Chennai Super Kings after a stint with KXIP.
Royal Challengers Bangalore paid `4.2 crore for Hetmyer. Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), RR and DC also bid for the stylish West Indies batsman, who had a base price of `50 lakh. His teammate Brathwaite, the star of 2016 World T20, was sold to KKR for `5 crore after a bidding war between the Dinesh Karthik-led side and KXIP.
Another West Indies player to get an attractive deal was wicketkeeper Nicholas Pooran. The 23-year-old, who came with a base price of Rs 75 lakh, went for Rs 4.20 crore to KXIP. He is a T20 find and is yet to play Test cricket.
Indian Test player Hanuma Vihari was sold to DC for Rs 2 crore, four times his base price. Pacer Ishant Sharma, who had a base price of Rs 75 lakh, went to DC for Rs 1.1 crore while wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha was bought back by Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs 1.2 crore.
The high-profile unsold players were Cheteshwar Pujara, Brendon McCullum and Chris Woakes.
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