IPL Auction 2018, Day 2: Hits and misses
The two-day marathon Player Auctions for the 2018 edition of the Indian Premier League, where 578 Indian and overseas players were vying for 182 slots, was an interesting affair.
As expected, there were a lot of surprises on day two, as some of the well-established names could not find any takers and some lesser-known players got away with flashy price tags.
It produced some interesting talking points as star players like Joe Root, Lasith Malinga, Dale Steyn and Shaun Marsh remained unsold, while Jayadev Unadkat, K Gowtham and Andrew Tye attracted colossal bids.
Now, let us have a look at the hits and misses from day 2 of the auction that has set the tone for the 11th edition of the T20 tournament to be held from 7 April to 27 May.
Hit: Chris Gayle
It is almost impossible to imagine a T20 tournament without Chris Gayle, still, the quintessential T20 player had no takers on day one and early on day two, but, he was brought back to the bidding table for the third time and was bought by Kings XI Punjab for his base price of INR 2 crore.
It was being assumed that another fat paycheck was awaiting Gayle at the IPL 2018 Auction but, in a surprising turn of events, the biggest star of the league's first decade struggled to make it to this year's tournament.
With 265 maximums to his name, the 38-year-old holds the record of hitting the most number of sixes in IPL history.
Overall, in 101 IPL matches, Gayle has scored 3,626 runs, including five tons, the most by any batsman.