Indian Premier League 2018 Player Auction: Yuvraj Singh and other bargain buys
Mumbai: The ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) auctions saw big buys by some of the teams on Saturday. With Ben Stokes going to Rajasthan Royals for a whopping amount of Rs 12.5 crore, Manish Pandey was also another highlight, going to Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs 11 crores.
As it happened: Chahal, Stokes big buys; Gayle goes unsold in IPL auction
As many as 21 players have ended up being unsold, including the likes of Murali Vijay, James Faulkner, Chris Gayle among others. However, those players will have another shot at hand, when the unsold players once again come under the hammer on Sunday.
Meanwhile, there were some notable bargain buys in the auction.
Here are the cricketers who were some bargain buys on the first day of auction.
Yuvraj Singh
Overlooked for the Indian team very often, Yuvraj Singh was bought by Kings XI Punjab for just Rs 2 crore. He had represented Sunrisers Hyderabad last season, scoring 252 runs from 12 league matches. This is not the first time that Yuvraj is being a part of the KXIP setup. He was one of the marquee players for the Punjab franchise in the inaugural edition of the IPL.
Carlos Brathwaite
West Indies’ World T20 champion Carlos Brathwaite has an IPL experience before. Bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs 2 crore in the auction on Saturday, Brathwaite , too, was a bargain buy by the Delhi franchise. Brathwaite just played two matches for Delhgi Daredevils last season, but will hope to get more opportunities with SRH this time round.
Imran Tahir
Imran Tahir was one of the cheapest buys this season when two-time champions Chennai Super Kings bought the South Africa spinner for just Rs 1 crore.
Like Brathwaite, Tahir played for Delhi Daredevils last season, but picked up 18 wickets from 12 matches.
Tahir could be an integral part of MS Dhoni’s team, if CSK are to win the IPL title once again.
Ambati Rayudu
Ambati Rayudu, too was a bargain buy at Chennai Super Kings, with the franchise just spending Rs 2.2 crore on the wicketkeeper-batsman.
Rayudu was a crucial player in the Mumbai Indians setup, and will look to get more opportunities under MS Dhoni with the South Indian team.
Harbhajan Singh
Harbhajan Singh followed Imran Tahir and Ambati Rayudu in the Chennai Super Kings setup ahead of the 11th IPL season, as he was bought by CSK for Rs 2 crore. . The ‘Turbanator’, as he is called, was a part of Mumbai Indians side last season, finishing with eight wickets from 11 matches.
Harbhajan will look to fill in the space left by R Ashwin, who was bought by Kings XI Punjab.
