Unadkat joins Royals for $1.8m IPL deal

THE GLOBAL IMPACT

Bangalore — Rising pace bowler Jaydev Unadkat joined Rajasthan Royals for $1.8 million on Sunday but a long list of foreign stars went unsold in the Indian Premier League auction.

After snapping up Ben Stokes for $1.96 million on the opening day, the Royals made Unadkat their second most expensive buy and the top-priced Indian in the auction.

Stokes and Unadkat will join Australian captain Steve Smith, who will lead the Royals. The team are returning to the most lucrative T20 league after a two-year illegal gambling ban. The team also spent almost $1 million for uncapped Indian off-spinner Krishnappa Gowtham. Top English names, including one-day captain Eoin Morgan and batsman Alex Hales, failed however to attract bids from the eight teams on the second day of the auction. The second day belonged to Indian talent with the 26-year-old Unadkat, who has played one Test and seven one-day internationals, drawing bigger bids than some big home names.— The Indian Premier League has attracted 64 overseas players from 9 countries. The highest paid player from each country is featured here

Ben Stokes Rashid Khan

Total players

Afghanistan Sandeep Lamichhane

Total players

Nepal

The IPL 2018 teams after the auction