Punjab Kings broke the bank for England batter, Liam Livingstone on Day 2 of the IPL big auction 2022, purchasing him for 11.5 crores.
It is believed that the Punjab team also enlisted West Indies fast bowler Odean Smith for a price of Rs 6 crore.
While Livingstone secured a massive deal and his fellow citizens, Eoin Morgan Chris Jordan, and Dawid Malan, didn’t get sold.
Left-handed players Second-string India pacers such Khaleel Ahmed or Chetan Sakariya were offered lucrative contracts of Rs 5.25 crore and Rs 4.20 crore, respectively.
Within Indians, the all-rounder Shivam Dube fetched Rs 4 crore from Chennai Super Kings for his ability to hit six times, as Gujarat Titans bagged another out of favor multi-skilled athlete Vijay Shankar for Rs 1.4 crore.
CSK also acquired the lesser-known Sri Lankan spinner Mahesh Theeksana (70 lakh), who impressed against India during their country tour in July of last year.
Cheteshwar Pujara, who was expected to sell, did not at auction, while Ajinkya Rahae received the base price of one million from Kolkata Knight Riders.
But the session’s most memorable moment was Livingstone, who crossed the million-dollar mark, with five teams bidding at one point.
But, it should be pointed out that Livingstone was a player with Rajasthan Royals in the previous season.
He didn’t perform well on slower tracks; however, franchises with open slots (minimum 18 players per squad) were desperate to sign Livingstone.
Marco Jansen, the South African pacer who was a tyrant in India throughout the series of Tests, was awarded the sum of Rs 4.2 million at Sunrisers Hyderabad.
The two teams involved in bidding wars included SRH and Punjab having more than 20 and 28 crores in their bank accounts in the first half of the morning.
Odean Smith’s value went up after being impressed with his speed and control when playing India during the series of ODIs.
Additionally, he demonstrated that he could hit the ball from a far distance.
Smith has earned fame for breaking the bat of Chris Gayle in the Caribbean Premier League with his incredible speed, which is why Punjab did well with their ample resources.
“I believe it’s not just about the recent performances. We all are aware that he (Odean) is an emerging star and has demonstrated his speed, bowling abilities, and batting abilities. We saw it displayed against India in the one-dayers here,” Punjab Kings head coach Anil Kumble told.
“So we’ve been monitoring the players for some time, and we’re very happy that someone like Odean is an all-rounder we were able to get, so we are pleased with the selection of that player to Punjab,” he added.
A baffling plan of action of Mumbai Indians
Mumbai Indians began the day with over 27 crores in their bank account, but they had to fill at least 10 slots.
But, they were surprisingly quiet during the opening session before they bid cautiously for Navdeep Saini. However, the bid was won by Rajasthan Royals, who won the bid of 2.40 crore.
The MI corner was proud when they landed Jaydev Unadkat for Rs 1.30 crore.
They also landed leg spinner Mayank Markande for 65 lakh; however, the excitement characteristic of MI’s approach to bidding on match-winners was absent, and not too many of them are still available.
Lucknow Super Giants have some bargain purchases.
Lucknow Super Giants had the most modest sum of money (Rs 6.90 crore) at the beginning of the day.
Still, having created a solid first XI on the first day, the Sanjiv-owned team couldn’t make a big bid on the second day of the tournament and made concessions on bargain purchases such as Krishnappa Gowatham, who, from his more than Rs 9 crore offer from CSK the previous season, finished with a 90 lakh contract.
In a backup pacer, Sri Lanka’s Dushmantha Chameera was snatched up by Lucknow.
U-19 WC star Bawa gets the multi-crore deal
Delhi Capitals got U-19 World Cup captain Yash Dhull for just 50 lakh because there was not much bidding over his initial price of 20 lakh. Dhull is a graduate of the Delhi Capitals Academy.
But it was the multi-faceted player Raj Angad Bawa, who was the subject of a lot of attention expressed by franchises before Punjab Kings snapped the local player up for Rs 2 million.
His colts partner Rajvardhan Hangargekar got a good offer from CSK, who purchased the pacer at around 1.5 crores.
