5 Players from other leagues who are hot picks in IPL auction
T20 Cricket was introduced by the England Cricket Board to bring back people to the stadiums as they seemed to lose interest in Tests and ODIs in the early 2000s. The move proved decisive as youngsters and working people came back to the stadiums to watch the three-hour entertainment. India's triumph in World T20 in 2007, led to the birth of a city-based franchise league in the name of Indian Premier League.
Commercial and entertainment factors made the world watch in awe as people and money came pouring into the game. With these leagues proving to be a money-spinner, cricket boards started their own leagues and popularity of the game increased like never before all over the world. New players came into the limelight with great performances over the years in these leagues and went onto represent their country. Let us look such players who could be in for high demand in the auction.
#1 Varun Chakravarthy - Tamil Nadu Premier League
Varun Chakravarthy, an unknown name even in Tamil Nadu cricketing circles made everyone to notice his bowling skills as he helped his franchise Siechem Madurai Panthers clinch their maiden TNPL crown. Coming into the tournament, Madurai were winless in the tournament history and were looking for a complete revamp to change their fortunes.
This mystery spinner was their first pick in the draft. He was impeccable with his line and length as batsmen found it hard to score against him. Having bowled the most no. of overs in the tournament (40), his economy rate was just 4.7 runs per over.
He was a net bowler during IPL for the only match played in Chennai. He impressed Knight Riders Skipper Dinesh Karthik as Varun was called for KKR nets and received valuable inputs from Sunil Narine's coach Carl Crowe. With his base price at 20 lakhs, he will be in the radar for most of the franchises.