Munro bought for a bargain, Sodhi snubbed
The IPL auction was a mixed bag for NZ players, reports Andrew Voerman.
The world’s No 1 ranked Twenty20 batsman will play for the Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League, but the No 1 ranked bowler didn’t receive a single bid.
Colin Munro was bought for 1.9 crore rupees ($NZ406,000) at the annual auction last night, and that may be a bargain for Delhi given his form this summer.
Ish Sodhi, however, wasn’t wanted when the first group of spinners were put up for grabs.
It took a while for an opening bid to come for Munro, but eventually the Mumbai Indians showed some interest in the lefthander.
Delhi fought Mumbai off, but the Rajasthan Royals then got involved, before giving up as well.
Munro became the fourth Kiwi sold in the early rounds of the auction, with his Black Caps opening partner Martin Guptill unwanted a fate later shared by quicks Tim Southee and Mitchell McClenaghan as well as Sodhi.
Munro has previously played for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the 2016 season, and after scoring a hundred, two fifties and an unbeaten 49 in five internationals this summer, he was always likely to be picked up.
Former Black Caps captain Daniel Vettori coaches Royal Challengers Bangalore and he will have Brendon McCullum and Colin de Grandhomme when the season gets under way in April.
McCullum was in the first group and was sold to Bangalore for 3.6 crore ($770,000), who fought off the Rajasthan Royals and the Delhi Daredevils for his services.
De Grandhomme was in the first
group of allrounders, and also attracted interest from Sunrisers Hyderabad, who had earlier picked up Kane Williamson. He was sold for 2.2 crore ($470,000).
McCullum already plays under Vettori at the Brisbane Heat in the Big Bash League in Australia.
Bangalore tried to buy Australian Chris Lynn and recreate the ‘‘Bash Brothers’’, as he and McCullum are known at the Heat, but they were outbid by Kolkata, who paid 9.6 crore ($2.05 million).
Williamson was the first New Zealander on offer, part of the marquee group because he is Black Caps captain.
He will return to Sunrisers Hyderabad, who paid 3 crore ($641,000) for his services. Williamson has played 15 games for Hyderabad over the past three seasons, winning the title with them in 2016. Bangalore also got in on the action for Williamson, but only made a couple of bids before withdrawing.
England allrounder Ben Stokes received the highest bid in the first four rounds of the auction, joining Rajasthan for 12.5 crore ($2.67 million), down on what he received last year.
Indian batsmen K L Rahul and Manish Pandey both went for 11 crore ($2.35 million) to Kings XI Punjab and Hyderabad respectively. Left-arm quick Mitchell Starc joined fellow Australian Lynn at Kolkata, going for 9.4 crore ($2 million).
A record 578 cricketers were up for grabs at the auction, which continues today.
Players who went unsold yesterday could also be put up for auction again if a team expresses interest.
Fourteen other New Zealanders will go up for auction today.
There were no bids for West Indian batsman Chris Gayle, who had a dreadful tour of New Zealand, and England test captain Joe Root.