IPL Auction 2019: Five top buys with respect to their base price
The twelfth edition of the Indian Premier League Auction kick-started in Jaipur with Hugh Edmeades replacing Richard Madley with the gavel. As expected, the teams had done their homework according to their requirements as the expected names went for huge bucks. In the end, sixty players sold under the hammer out of which twenty were overseas players for a mammoth 106.80 Crores.
The talent scouts from the eight franchises have done well to unearth young talents before the beginning of the auction. An intense bidding war erupted between the franchises who were splashing the money to acquire the uncapped Indians at any cost. Let‘s look at the top five players who went for a huge price in this year‘s auction.
#1 Varun Chakaravarthy - Kings XI Punjab - 8.4 Crores
This Tamil Nadu youngster became the highest-priced player of the 2019 auction recording 42 times his base price amount to end with 8.4 crores in his kitty. He attracted bids from Chennai Super Kings, Knight Riders, Delhi Capitals and the Royals before Punjab swopping him for a record sum.
Varun, who abandoned the game after being rejected in age group cricket went on to concentrate on his studies. He played weekend cricket during his college days with a tennis ball and reverted to spin after sustaining a knee injury.
He honed his skills in the TNCA league to emerge on top with his off-break, the carrom ball, and the top-spinner. Besides, he can bowl the leg-break, googly, flipper and the slider. He had net sessions with CSK and KKR before the start of the 2018 IPL season and learned a lot in the company of Sunil Narine, Kuldeep Yadav, and Piyush Chawla in Kolkata.
In the 2018 TNPL season, he impressed in the slog overs scoring 36 runs and remained unbeaten in three of his four innings at a strike rate of 109. He claimed nine wickets at an economy of 4.7 runs per over for the Siechem Madurai Panthers. What’s more notable was the 125 dot balls he had managed from his 40 overs with the Panthers.
In the VAP Trophy 2018-2019, he claimed ten wickets at an economy of 3.65 from his seven matches playing for Vijay CC. Called up to represent Tamil Nadu in the Vijay Hazare Trophy; he returned with 22 wickets at an economy rate of 4.23. Recording 308 dot-balls from his 86.4 overs he impressed the scouts with his ability to exert pressure on the batsman.
He would play a key role for the Kings Eleven team and would look forward to don the Indian colors in the near future.
Base Price: 20 Lakhs
Purchase Price: 8.4 Crores (42 times his base price amount)
Interested Franchises: Chennai Super Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders, Delhi Capitals and the Rajasthan Royals.