IPL 2019: 3 unsold players who will miss the tournament for the first time since its inception
After huge speculation about the venue for the 12th edition of Indian Premier League (IPL), the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had announced last month that this year’s edition would be held entirely in India. Though the fixtures are not announced yet, the upcoming edition is slated to begin from March 23.
The player auction for IPL 2019 was held on December 18, 2018. While some unknown players fetched big contracts, several star players went unsold in the auction. A few players have opted not to put their name under the hammer.
Among the unsold players, let us look at three players who will miss the tournament for the first time since its inception.
#3 Saurabh Tiwary
If a list of one-season IPL wonders is generated, then Saurabh Tiwary’s name will surely find a place in the list. Though Mumbai Indians bought him in the inaugural season, he was not a regular in the playing XI for the first two seasons.
His breakthrough season came in the third year as he ended the tournament as the eighth highest run-getter with 419 runs in 15 innings. He was one among the consistent performers for the franchise as he notched up three 50+ scores with a decent strike rate of 135.39.
Impressed by his exploits, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) bought him for a massive sum of USD 1.6 million in the 2011 IPL auction. However, he turned out to be a yet another flop signing for the Bangalore franchise. In his three years (2011-13) at RCB, Tiwary had managed to score just a solitary half-century from 40 matches.
With his form hitting rock bottom, Delhi Daredevils bought him for mere INR 70 Lakhs during the 2014 IPL auction. He missed the entire 2014 edition due to injury and managed to play just seven games for the franchise in the 2015 season.
In 2016, he played for Rising Pune Supergiant and scored 170 runs in 10 matches with two 50+ scores. Mumbai Indians repurchased him in the 2017 auction, and he cracked a half-century in his only appearance of that season. He failed to get a single game in the 2018 edition and was released by the franchise ahead of this year’s auction.
Once dubbed as a left-handed version of Mahendra Singh Dhoni (due to his long hair and exploits in 2010 season), Tiwary went unsold for the first time in this year’s auction.