IPL mega auction: 15 Hyderabad players to go under hammer

Hyderabad: The IPL mega auction for the new season, which will be held on Saturday and Sunday, will see as many as 15 Hyderabad cricketers go under the hammer, in Bengaluru. Mohammed Siraj is the only cricketer from Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League since his debut in 2017. The Royal Challengers Bangalore retained the […]

Hyderabad: The IPL mega auction for the new season, which will be held on Saturday and Sunday, will see as many as 15 Hyderabad cricketers go under the hammer, in Bengaluru.

Mohammed Siraj is the only cricketer from Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League since his debut in 2017. The Royal Challengers Bangalore retained the fast bowler for Rs 7 crore for the new season. Another Hyderabadi Ambati Rayudu, who plays for Andhra, has been part of the Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings and he is now back in the auction pool.

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G Hanuma Vihari, who represented Sunrisers Hyderabad for a couple of seasons and spent a year with Delhi Capitals, failed to find a team in the last few years after he was labelled as a Test specialist. Vihari, who returned to Hyderabad for the domestic season after captaining Andhra, kept his base price at Rs 50 lakh.

Then come the current Hyderabad skipper and crafty left-hander Tanmay Agarwal and experienced pacer CV Milind. Both have a base price of Rs 20 lakh each. These two have bright chances of getting picked as they had a splendid outing in the recently-concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament. While Tanmay topped the batting charts with 334 runs (from 7 matches with an average of 55.67), Milind emerged as the top wicket-taker with 18 scalps to his name. He has two five-wicket hauls in the season.

However, the players say they don’t want to think too much about. “I don’t want to think about the auction and put myself under pressure. The performance might help. I am happy that I did well. But the performance was not for the sake of auction. It was my duty to perform for the team and score as many runs as possible as a batter. The only thing that I can focus on is the upcoming Ranji Trophy. I am looking forward to it and want to do well,” said Tanmay.

When asked whether the thought of auction came to mind, he said, “It is not that I can’t think about it. What happens in the auction is not in my hands. What I can do is to perform with the bat.”

Meanwhile, Milind said, “I am feeling good and I am in a positive frame of mind. I did what was in my control and tried to do that to the best of my abilities. I don’t want to think about other things that are not in my control. Yes I am definitely hopeful (after the good performance in T20 tournament). But I am trying not to focus on it and work on my daily routine for the upcoming Ranji Trophy.” Milind, a handy batter lower down the order, has vast experience of playing in the domestic circuit which can work in his favour.

With former Indian Under-19 World Cup player Thakur Tilak Varma, a talented left-handed opener, all-rounders Ajay Dev Goud, Tanay Thyagarajan, veteran B Sandeep, Mickhil Jaiswal and others, there are quite a number of players from Hyderabad waiting to change their fortunes in the auction.

However, all-rounder T Ravi Teja, whose name was missing from the auction, was disappointed. “I want to continue to work hard and return with a bang. I want to follow the path of Vihari and work hard in the domestic season and return to the mix,” he added.

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