Quicks in demand, dominate auction
Fast bowlers were clearly in huge demand at the IPL player auction ahead of the 10th edition of the world’s premier T20 tournament. As soon as the set of pacers were ready to be auctioned on Monday, the franchises were braced to begin a fierce bidding battle.
The jackpot was hit by English pace bowler Tymal Mills, who was bought for ~ 12 crore — 22 times his base price of ~ 50 lakh. It came as no surprise that Royal Challengers Bangalore went all out for Mills, a clear replacement option after Australia’sMitchell Starc parted ways with RCB to manage his workload.
New Zealand pacer Trent Boult and SA pace sensation, Kagiso Rabada, were both snapped up for ~ 5 crore, by Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Daredevils respectively.
Delhi Daredevils loaded themselves with another pacer — Australia’s Patrick Cummins, for ~ 4.5 crore.
Rajasthan left-arm seamer Aniket Choudhary, who took four wickets for India A against Bangladesh and was called up by India to prepare for Mitchell Starc, was bought for ~ 2 crore --base price~ 10 lakh --- by Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Tamil Nadu left-arm pacer T Natarajan, who impressed in the run-up to the Ranji Trophy, was snapped up by Kings XI Punjab for ~ 3 crore. Basil Thampi, Kerala pacer with a base price ~ 10 lakh, was bought by Gujarat Lions for ~ 85 lakh.