5 unsold players from 2018 who went for big money in IPL Auction 2019
The much-hyped IPL Auction 2019 ended with the franchises buying as many as 60 players for the available slots of 70 players. Besides that, a lot of players went unsold in the auction which included the likes of Hashim Amla, Dale Steyn, Brendon McCullum, and the list continues. This time around, the IPL auction happened to be a strange one as the franchises overlooked a lot of quality players while making some surprise signings as well.
The stars of the auction were Varun Chakaravarthy and Jaydev Unadkat who happened to be the joint-most expensive signings at the Auction at INR 8.4 Crore. While Varun went to Kings XI Punjab, it was a home-coming for Unadkat as he got back to Rajasthan Royals who released him ahead of the auction.
However, these weren't the only surprises at the 2019 IPL Auction. The franchises made plenty of surprise signings with quite a few players, who went unsold in 2018 IPL Auction, grabbing deals worth more than INR 1 Crore.
Thus, in this feature, we will have a look at five players who went unsold in IPL Auction 2018 but managed to strike a hefty deal in the IPL Auction 2019.
#5 Jonny Bairstow
Jonny Bairstow, the right-handed wicket-keeper batsman from England, went unsold in 2018 IPL Auction. However, this time around, the Englishman managed to strike a fair deal with Sunrisers Hyderabad. The Hyderabad-based franchise acquired the services of Bairstow at INR 2.2 Crore.
Although Jonny (if he is a part of England's WC 2019 Squad) would be heading back home after the first half of IPL 2019, the deal seems to be legit as SRH was missing a quality wicket-keeper batsman in their ranks. Besides, Hyderabad has also acquired a backup option for Bairstow in Wriddhiman Saha who will be at SRH's disposal after the departure of Bairstow.
The Englishman has been a fiery batsman in the shorter formats of the game. To add to it, he also possesses exceptional wicket-keeping skills which makes him a definite addition to SRH's playing XI at least for the time he is available.