India’s Rishabh Pant. File
| Photo Credit: PTI
Rishabh Pant expectedly saw the franchises breaking the bank for him. So did Shreyas Iyer as the duo broke the records of the highest-selling players in the history of the Indian Premier League auction.
But it was the other Iyer — Venkatesh — along with Arshdeep Singh and Yuzvendra Chahal that created a stir at the Al Johar Abadi Arena on the first day of the two-day auction.
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Pant saw Lucknow Super Giants going for him right from the start of the bidding till Sanjiv Goenka indicated the incremental Right to Match bid of ₹27 crore, which was beyond Delhi Capitals’ reach.
It meant that the Super Giants, who had latched on to him for ₹20.75 crore before the Capitals came in for the RTM playoff, had the most expensive IPL signing ever, in its stable.
Minutes earlier, Punjab Kings – the franchise that entered the auction with the largest purse of ₹110.50 crore – had outbid Delhi Capitals, to sign Shreyas – the last season’s IPL-winning captain – for a whopping ₹26.75 crore.
Both the bids were way above the last year’s bid of ₹24.75 crore for Mitchell Starc by the Kolkata Knight Ride₹ But the Knight Riders had its share of limelight when it forced Royal Challengers Bengaluru to withdraw from the bidding war for Venkatesh, the star performer during its winning run last year.
The amount of ₹ 23.75 may have surprised many but the Knight Riders were clear in retaining their core and went all the way in retaining Venkatesh. KKR also re-signed Angkrish Raghuvanshi (₹ 3 crore) and Rahmanullah Gurbaz (₹ 2 crore) who were with them during the last year’s triumphant campaign.
Arshdeep, meanwhile, was the first player to be up for bidding. And he saw seven teams indulging in them before the Punjab Kings exercised the RTM option despite Sunrisers inflating the incremental bid from ₹15.75 crore to ₹18 crore. Chahal, the veteran leggie, earned a jackpot of ₹18 crore with the Punjab Kings going all the way from him.
While Mumbai Indians signed the least number of players in the first half of the opening day’s proceedings, the Chennai Super Kings — just like the Knight Riders — adopted the “retaining-the-core” formula. While it exercised the RTM option to have Rachin Ravindra (₹4 crore), they started their signing spree by winning the bidding war for Devon Conway (₹6.25 crore).
The five-time champion franchise had Rahul Tripathi as a fresh signing while celebrating veteran offie R. Ashwin’s (₹9.75 crore) homecoming. Ashwin will be teaming up with Afghanistan chinaman Noor Ahmad, who was CSK’s most expensive signing at ₹10 crore, thanks to an incremental bid to force Gujarat Titans’ withdrawal.
Published – November 24, 2024 05:02 pm IST
