Rookies turn overnight millionaires at 2019 IPL auction

Jaipur, Dec 18 - The 2019 Indian Premier League (IPL) auction on Tuesday witnessed a new list of millionaires with Varun Chakaravarthy and Jaydev Unadkat topping the charts among the Indian players wi

RCB also invested in many lesser known young faces like the uncapped Shivam, West Indian Shimron Hetmyer (Rs 4.2 crore), Akshsdeep Nath (Rs 3.6 crore) and Prayas Raj Barman (Rs 1.5 crore).

Delhi Capitals, formerly known as the Delhi Daredevils, also strengthened their middle-order batting by investing a lion's share on Ingram besides spending Rs 2 crore each to bag the services of all-rounder Hanuma Vihari and Sherane Rutherford. It also got veteran India pacer and local boy Ishant Sharma for Rs 1.10 crore.

Coming to the Mumbai Indians, the side bolstered its bowling attack by buying Sri Lankan Lasith Malinga for Rs 2 crore while splurging Rs 3.4 crore to buy India discard Barinder Sran. 

Another India discard Yuvraj Singh finally found a buyer in the Mumbai franchise, who bought him for his base price of Rs 1 crore. Interestingly, the southpaw went unsold in the first round.

The Sunrisers Hyderabad focused on getting a wicketkeeper-batsman to balance their batting and in the process, bagged the services of Englishman Jonny Bairstow for Rs 2.2 crore and India Test stumper Wriddhiman Saha for Rs 1.2 crore. It also got New Zealander Martin Guptill for Rs 1 crore after the right-hander went unsold in the first round.

Having retained the bulk of their side, defending champions Chennai Super Kings hardly required any fresh faces after regaining Mohit Sharma for Rs 5 crore.

The Dinesh Karthik-led Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) also kept their focus on a number of rookies, besides splurging crores on Brathwaite (Rs 5 crore) and Lockie Ferguson (Rs 1.6 crore).

Inaugural IPL champions Rajasthan Royals got their main man back in the form of Unadkat but despite that spent big on bagging other quicks in Varun Aaron (Rs 2.4 crore) and Oshane Thomas (Rs 1.10 crore).

Meanwhile, South African pace spearhead Dale Steyn was among some of the biggest names to miss out even in the second and final round.

The other stars who went unsold are India Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara, New Zealanders Brendon McCullum, James Neesham and Corey Anderson, Englishmen Chris Woakes, Alex Hales and Chris Jordan, South Africans Hashim Amla and Morne Morkel, and Sri Lanka's Angelo Mathews and Kusal Perera.

Former West Indian skipper Jason Holder and Bangladesh's Mushfiqur Rahim also failed to find any buyer along with Australians Shaun Marsh, Usman Khawaja and stumper Ben McDermott.

Besides Pujara, the other notable Indian names to miss out in the auction include Naman Ojha, R.Vinay Kumar, Parvez Rasool, Baba Indrajith, Sheldon Jackson, Sachin Baby and Manoj Tiwary.

---