The auction room of the Indian T20 League is a strange place. While it is widely known and believed that all teams come to the auction completely prepared with the knowledge of players and the kind of squad they want to constitute, they also keep throwing up massive surprises.
One such came in the form of Ishan Kishan on Saturday, for whom the five-time title winners Mumbai spent a mind-boggling amount of ₹15.25 crores. At the same time, there were plenty of players making news with Chennai spending ₹14 crores on Deepak Chahar and new team Lucknow spending a record ₹10 crores on the uncapped Indian fast bowler Avesh Khan.
But along with surprises, there are a few deserving ones too. The top name in the list has to be of Shardul Thakur, who was sold to Delhi for ₹10.75 crores from his base price of ₹2 crores. Thakur has become a vital cog in the Indian team across formats, dazzling repeatedly with all-round performances to keep making the news.
Among the deserving ones on the first day of the auction on Saturday was Tamil Nadu spinner Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, who was bought by Gujarat for a price of ₹3 crores from his base price of ₹20 lakhs. The left-arm spinner, who has been a part of the Chennai team for the last two seasons but did not get any match to play, has been one of the best spinners in the domestic circuit.
R Sai Kishore is a measly spinner who has played a vital role for Tamil Nadu in winning the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy for two consecutive years, sending down tight spells and overs to emerge as one of the best in the business. His economy rate – 4.63 and 4.82 in the last two editions of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy – is beyond many current bowlers, even those who operate at the international level.
He was recently added to the Indian T20 side to take on the West Indies in the upcoming three-match T20 series.
Devarchit Varma is a cricket writer and journalist with an experience of more than a decade, having worked at Hindustan Times (newspaper) and CricketCountry (website). Along with covering international and domestic cricket, he has also interviewed several current and former top players such as Rohit Sharma, Steve Smith, Dale Steyn, Michael Hussey, Jacques Kallis, Brendon McCullum, Shane Watson, Lasith Malinga and many more. He has also worked in other beats as a journalist in Bollywood (Reliance BigOye) and IT (SiliconIndia) industries.
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