IPL auction: Livingstone hits jackpot, Punjab shells out Rs 11.50 cr

Bengaluru: England batter Liam Livingstone fetched a staggering Rs 11.50 crore deal from Punjab Kings, who also roped in West Indies fast bowler Odean Smith for Rs 6 crore on the second day of the IPL mega auction here on Sunday. For their left-arm variety, second-string India pacers like Khaleel Ahmed and Chetan Sakariya got […]

Bengaluru: England batter Liam Livingstone fetched a staggering Rs 11.50 crore deal from Punjab Kings, who also roped in West Indies fast bowler Odean Smith for Rs 6 crore on the second day of the IPL mega auction here on Sunday.

For their left-arm variety, second-string India pacers like Khaleel Ahmed and Chetan Sakariya got handsome deals of Rs 5.25 crore and Rs 4.20 crore, respectively. Among other Indians, all-rounder Shivam Dube fetched Rs 4 crore from Chennai Super Kings for his six-hitting abilities, while Gujarat Titans bagged another out-of-favour multi-skilled player in Vijay Shankar for Rs 1.4 crore.

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CSK also picked up little-known Sri Lankan spinner Mahesh Theeksana (70 lakh), who looked impressive against India when they toured the island nation in July last year. Cheteshwar Pujara predictably went unsold at the auction while Ajinkya Rahae got a base price of Rs 1 crore from Kolkata Knight Riders. The first session’s highlight was auction for Livingstone, who hit the million dollar plus mark with five teams bidding for him at one point of time.

However, when Livingstone played for Rajasthan Royals in the previous season he didn’t actually perform well on slow tracks, but the franchises, with slots available (minimum 18 per squad), looked desperate for him. Marco Jansen, the South African pacer, who tormented India during the last Test series between the two sides, got Rs 4.2 crore from Sunrisers Hyderabad.

The two teams that engaged in the bidding war were SRH and Punjab, with more than Rs 20 crore and Rs 28 crore in their kitty at the start of the day. Odean Smith’s price shot up as he recently impressed with his pace and control against India in the ODI series and also showed that he can hit the ball a long way. Smith has had the reputation of breaking Chris Gayle’s bat during the Caribbean Premier League with his sheer pace and no wonder Punjab went the distance with their adequate resources.

“I think, it is not just about the recent performances, we all know he (Odean) is an upcoming talent and he has showcased his power, bowling skills and also his batting skills and we saw that on display against India here in the one-dayers,” Punjab Kings head coach Anil Kumble said.
“So we have been tracking the players for a while and we are very glad that someone like Odean as an all-rounder for us we have been able to secure, so really happy with that player onto Punjab,” he added.

Mumbai Indians started the day with more than Rs 27 crore left in their purse but had to fill up at least 10 slots. However, they were strangely subdued during the first session before bidding conservatively for Navdeep Saini, but it was Rajasthan Royals who won the bid at Rs 2.40 crore. The MI corner had something to smile about when they got Jaydev Unadkat for Rs 1.30 crore.

They also bagged leg-spinner Mayank Markande for Rs 65 lakh, but the spark that is so typical of MI’s style of bidding for match-winners, was missing and not too many such players are now left.

Lucknow Super Giants had the least purse (Rs 6.90 crore) at the start of the day but after having created a good first XI on the opening day, the Sanjiv Goenka-owned franchise couldn’t bid aggressively on the second day and settled for bargain buys like Krishnappa Gowatham, who, from his Rs 9 crore-plus bid from CSK last season, ended with a Rs 90 lakh deal. As a back-up pacer, Sri Lanka’s Dushmantha Chameera was picked up by Lucknow.

Delhi Capitals got U-19 World Cup winning captain Yash Dhull for only Rs 50 lakh as there wasn’t much bidding over his base price of Rs 20 lakh. Dhull is a product of Delhi Capitals Academy. However it was all-rounder Raj Angad Bawa, who had a lot of interest shown by franchises before Punjab Kings snapped the local boy for Rs 2 crore. His colts teammate Rajvardhan Hangargekar got a good bid from CSK, wo bought the pacer for Rs 1.5 crore.

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