IPL: 5 expensive buys nobody remembers now
Known amongst the costliest sporting contests in the world, the Indian Premier League lore is full of rags to riches stories. The lucrative contracts in the auctions have enriched the financial security of several rookies. Remember the account of Mohammed Siraj? Son of an auto-rickshaw driver, the fast bowler's life changed forever after being bought by the Sunrisers Hyderabad for ₹2.6 crores in the 2017 auctions. One year down the line, a capped Siraj got picked by the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the same price as Hyderabad. Stories of T. Natarajan, Shreyas Iyer, Sarfaraz Khan and others tell the same tale.
However, IPL has also seen riches to rags stories – those in which the players went big in the auctions, but couldn’t make the most of their debut season. Subsequently, their IPL stardom remained restricted to their astronomical contract, while they slowly fizzled away.
Here’s looking at five such cricketers who made noise in the auctions but not on the field, and were subsequently dropped.
#5 Eklavya Dwivedi
Wicket-keeper batsman Eklavya Dwivedi top-scored for Uttar Pradesh in the 2016 Syed Mushtaque Ali Trophy, following which the Gujarat Lions (now disbanded) snapped him up for a whopping ₹1 crore. The middle-order batsman was previously a part of Chennai Super Kings and Pune Warriors too but didn’t play a single game for either of the two franchises.
After joining the club of millionaires in 2016, the middle-order batsman made his IPL debut for the Lions but later went bust in the tournament. He managed only 24 runs from 4 games before being dropped. He was not retained in the following year and went unsold. Dwivedi played his last domestic game for UP in January 2018.
#4 Aniket Choudhary
Aniket Choudhary's rise from a net bowler in the Indian camp to a ₹2 crore big-money signing to the Royal Challengers Bangalore is quite stellar. However, Choudhary couldn’t do much justice to his price tag, picking up 5 wickets from 5 games at an expensive economy of 8.55, before being dropped.
In the 2017-18 domestic season, the tall and well-built bowler did not put up any impressive performances, apart from leading Rajasthan to the finals of the Syed Mushtaque Ali trophy in January. Subsequently, his stocks fell drastically, and he was picked by earlier franchise at only ₹30 lakh. He never played for RCB again.
#3 Nathu Singh
Son of a factory labourer in Rajasthan, Nathu Singh’s fortunes changed overnight when he was bought by the Mumbai Indians for ₹3.2 crores in 2017. However, he picked up an injury during the tournament’s initial stage, and subsequently couldn’t play a single game that season.
Due to no impressive shows in the domestic season 2017-18, the fast-bowler went unsold in the 2018 auctions. Singh played his last match in March 2019 for Rajasthan in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy where he two wickets at an economy of 5.75.
#2 KC Cariappa
Mystery spinner KC Cariappa was the surprise package of IPL 8. A highly-rated bowler in the Karnataka cricket ranks, he was purchased by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for a whopping ₹2.4 crore in 2015. The franchise was impressed by the young bowler’s performance in the Karnataka Premier League 2014 where he picked up 11 wickets in six matches representing the Bijapur Bulls.
However, much to the surprise of the viewers, the leg-spinner was played in only a single game by the Knight Riders, after which he was released from the team the following year. He was drafted by Kings XI Punjab in 2016 for ₹80 lakhs, and was retained the next year, before being released in 2018. Once a crorepati, Cariappa had no takers at 2018 auctions and went unsold. Later a good stint with Karnataka in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, led him to get a call from KKR as a replacement for the injured Shivam Mavi.
#1 Tymal Mills
“When it (the auctions) finished I did not know how much it (the contract) was worth. When I worked it out I could not believe it, it did not seem real. It’s an amount of money that can change your life. It will for me,” said Tymal Mills after being snapped up by the Royal Challengers Bangalore for an astounding ₹12 crore in 2017.
It took him a while to come to terms with being a millionaire. Not long ago did Mills work on a fruit stall at 6.30 am before going to school, to be able to help his mother, a single parent. The IPL contract put an end to his financial struggles, but the pacer failed to cement his place in the T20 extravaganza.
The England quick was second on the most expensive buy in the 2017, but a sudden injury meant he could feature in only five matches, in which he took as many wickets with an economy rate of 8.57.
His international form mostly deteriorated, and Mills subsequently went unsold at the auctions in 2018. From the riches of ₹12 crores to the rags of going unsold, Mills’ story explains the uncertainties of life.