The mega-auction for the IPL 2022 has got over and it won’t be wrong to say that those two days were full of excitement not just for the cricketers but also for cricket lovers as they wanted to know which franchise would buy their favourite players. There were 590 players who were available for auction out of which 204 (including 67 foreign players) were bought by the 10 franchises which spent a total of Rs. 551 crore approximately.
The Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Ishan Kishan has become the most expensive cricketer of the IPL 2022 as Mumbai Indians spent a huge amount of Rs. 15.25 crore for buying him and with this, he has become the second most expensive player after Yuvraj Singh who got sold for Rs. 16 crore in the year 2015. Chennai Super Kings also went all guns blazing out for Deepak Chahar who was purchased for Rs.14 crore and this was the first time in the history of the IPL that both CSK and MI spent more than Rs. 10 crore on any player in the auction. Interestingly, Ishan Kishan and Deepak Chahar were part of MI and CSK, respectively before going in the auction and the franchises wanted them back even if they had to spend a whopping amount for that.
England cricketer Liam Livingstone who is known for his hard-hitting batting style became the most expensive overseas player of this auction as he was purchased for Rs. 11.50 crore by Punjab Kings. The former skipper of Delhi Capitals, Shreyas Iyer was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders for a price of Rs. 12.25 crore and Delhi Capitals also spent a huge amount of Rs. 10.75 crore for buying Shardul Thakur.
Avesh Khan became the most expensive uncapped player as the new IPL team Lucknow Super Giants paid Rs. 10 crore for purchasing him; the other two uncapped players who fetched big amount are Shahrukh Khan (Rs. 9 crore by Punjab Kings) and Rahul Tewatia (Rs. 9 crore by Gujarat Titans).
However some big names also went unsold; for instance, the former Indian cricketer Suresh Raina was also not able to find a buyer for himself. Raina who is also known as Mr. IPL and is the fourth highest run getter of the league has played all the IPLs till now excluding the IPL 2020 from which opted out due to personal reasons. He was a part of Chennai Super Kings for a long time and many CSK fans must be disappointed as they won’t be able to see Chinna Thala in the IPL 2022.
There were some other big players who went unsold and here is the list:
1. Steve Smith (Base price Rs. 2 crore)
2. Suresh Raina (Base price Rs. 2 crore)
3. Adam Zampa (Base price Rs. 2 crore)
4. Mujeeb Ur Rahman (Base price Rs. 2 crore)
5. Imran Tahir (Base price Rs. 2 crore)
6. Adil Rashid (Base price Rs. 2 crore)
7. Shakib Al Hasan (Base price Rs. 2 crore)
8. Ishant Sharma (Base price Rs. 1.5 crore)
9. Eoin Morgan (Base price Rs. 1.5 crore)
10. Dawid Malan (Base price Rs. 1.5 crore)
11. Aaron Finch (Base price Rs. 1.5 crore)
12. Amit Mishra (Base price Rs. 1.5 crore)
13. Piyush Chawla (Base price Rs. 1 crore)
14. Roston Chase (Base price Rs. 1 crore)
15. Tabraiz Shamsi (Base price Rs. 1 crore)
16. Marnus Labuschagne (Base price Rs. 1 crore)
17. Martin Guptill (Base price Rs. 75 lakh)
18. Ben Cutting (Base price Rs. 75 lakh)
19. Sheldon Cottrell (Base price Rs. 75 lakh)
20. Cheteshwar Pujara (Base price Rs. 50 lakh)
21. Ish Sodhi (Base price Rs. 50 lakh)
22. Sandeep Lamichhane (Base price Rs. 40 lakh)
Which player will you miss the most in the IPL 2022? Let us know.