This IPL, uncapped players make hay

Before this season, buying the uncapped Indian players has been an under-the-table process in the Indian Premier League with details often kept in dark.

But on Thursday, it was a different scenario with almost all the franchises jostling to acquire the best of talents from the Indian domestic circuit after they were included in the IPL auction pool for the first time.

There were multiple gainers of this new-found rush in the auction for IPL’s seventh Editor, but none benefited more than Karn Sharma and Rishi Dhawan. Karn, a leg-spinning all-rounder from Uttar Pradesh, was bagged by Sunrisers Hyderabad for a massive Rs 3.75 crore. Incidentally, Karn had played for the Sunrisers in the last season as well.

Dhawan was bought by Kings XI Punjab for Rs 3 crore. The right-arm pacer from Himachal Pradesh had taken 49 wickets to emerge the highest wicket-taker in Ranji Trophy this season.

The eight teams combined to buy 84 players on the day, making it a total of 154 players over the two days of auction. The franchises spent Rs 50.25 crore on the second day of the auction.

Other Indian players who reached the Rs 1 crore mark were: Maharashtra batsman Kedar Jadhav (Delhi Daredevils, Rs 2 crore), Delhi all-rounder Rajat Bhatia (Rajasthan Royals, Rs 1.7 crore), Karnataka opening batsman Mayank Agarwal (Delhi Daredevils, Rs 1.6 crore), MP pace bowler Ishwar Pandey (Chennai Super Kings, Rs 1.5 core), Punjab batsman Gurkeerat Singh (Kings XI, Rs 1.3 crore), Gujarat pacer Jasprit Bumrah (Mumbai Indians, Rs 1.2 crore), Mumbai wicket-keeper batsman Aditya Tare (Mumbai Indians, Rs 1.6 crore), Mumbai pacer Dhawal Kulkarni (Rajasthan Royals, 1.1 crore) and Karnataka opener KL Rahul (Rs 1 crore, Sunrisers Hyderabad). Left-arm spinner Murali Kartik, who went unsold on Wednesday, was picked up Kings XI for his base price of Rs 1 crore.