IPL 2022: Here's Some of The Big Names Who Went Unsold In The Mega Auction
New Delhi: With an aim to grab the IPL 2022 trophy, the franchises tried all the possible way to power their team by adding best players who can push them apart from other teams to clinch tropy of the upcoming cash-rich league.
As per reports, a total of 204 were sold and nearly Rs 551.70 crore was spent by the 10 franchises. However, what shocked the sports fraternity is that bigger names in the cricket couldn't find place any of the team as there were no takers in the IPL auction.
Let's have a look at the big names that went unsold in IPL 2022 acution:
Suresh Raina (Base price of Rs 2 crore):
When it comes to IPL, the left hander is on fourth in the list of all-time run getters. Raina has appeared in 205 matches and scored 5,528 runs at an average of 32.51. Interestingly, he is only behind Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma in the run-getters list. He has also better strike-rate than all the three players above him in the list.
Notably, at 35, Raina is still the best player when it comes to performance. However, it seems that his base price of Rs 2 crore might have too high for the franchises. There could another reason that he went unsold and that is he struggled big-time in the 2021 season, scoring just 160 runs in 12 matches at a paltry average of 17.77.
Steve Smith (Base price of Rs 2 crore):
Like Suresh Raina, the Australian player too found no takers in the auction. He had a mixed tournament in 2021 while playing for Delhi Capitals. He scored 152 runs in eight matches at an average of 25.33 and the strike rate was 112.59.
His overall experience cvould have benefitted some of the teams but no one decided to take him.
Shakib Al Hasan (Base price of Rs 2 crore):
Despite his best performance in the ICCs ODI with bat and ball, no team put in bid for Shakib. This could be beacuse of his poor performance in IPL 2021.
Playing for KKR Shakib scored just 47 runs in eight matches and managed to take just four wickets.
Apart from these the other players were remained unsold are:
Adil Rashid (Base price of Rs 2 crore),
Imran Tahir (Base price of Rs 2 crore),
Aaron Finch (Base price of Rs 1.50 crore),
Dawid Malan (Base price of Rs 1.50 crore),
Eoin Morgan (Base price of Rs 1.50 crore),
Chris Lynn (Base price of Rs 1.50 crore),
Tabraiz Shamsi (Base price of Rs 1 crore),
Meanwhile, Mumbai Indians (MI) brought Arjun Tendulkar for Rs 30 lakh. The same team in 2021 brought him for Rs 20 lakh.
This time, Arjun attracted two bidders -- Gujarat Titans bidding for his services for a fee of Rs 25 lakh after MI's initial bid of Rs 20 lakh. However, MI returned with a bid of Rs 30 lakh that proved enough to acquire the 22-year-old cricketer's services.
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