IPL 2018 auction: 5 potential biggest uncapped buys

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The Indian Premier League has now established itself as a breeding ground for young Indian cricketers. Many of the Indian team's current mainstays made their mark in the IPL. Unsurprisingly, the 2017 auction saw uncapped Indian players trump familiar Indian stars. While players like T Natarajan, Mohammed Siraj, Aniket Chaudhary and K Gautam all bagged deals of at least 2 crores, senior players like Ishant Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara and Irfan Pathan went unsold!

This year shouldn't be any different. After all, uncapped players are gems in the auctions. They are bustling with talent and are itching to prove themselves. Also, owing to their unpopularity, they are easy on the pockets at the auctions. Also, with retention costs going up (i.e. INR 33 crores for 3 players, INR 21 crores for 2), it becomes critical for franchisees to pull off some steals at the auction. With a base price starting at INR 20 lakhs, uncapped players are bound to have the attention of franchisees.

In the recently revealed list of retained players, it was surprising to see only one team opting to hold on to an uncapped player. The Royal Challengers Bangalore retained Sarfaraz Khan, making him the only uncapped player to be retained.

Last year, the Sunrisers Hyderabad signed the services of speedster Mohammed Siraj. Siraj found his place in the starting eleven more often than not, and even went on to don the coveted Indian jersey following his IPL exploits. The first decade has seen plenty of uncapped players like Siraj who've made their way from nothing to representing their nation at the highest level.

In order to grab the attention of Indian selectors, these uncapped players will be looking to prove themselves in the IPL. Let's take a look at five uncapped players who are likely to be prominent in the upcoming IPL auctions:

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