Vidarbha's players could start a bidding war in 2018 IPL Auction

Vidarbha's star bowler Rajneesh Gurbani became an overnight sensation following his hat-trick in the Ranji Trophy semi-final against Karnataka.

It has been reported that the 22 Ranji Trophy players for Vidarbha, including the 15 members of the Ranji Trophy winning team, have registered for the 2018 IPL auction, scheduled to be held in Bengaluru on 27th and 28th January.

In the recently-concluded Ranji Trophy, Gurbani took 39 wickets at an average of 17.12, which included five 5-wicket hauls.

However, the 24-year-old has collected just two wickets in four matches so far, in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

The other stars of Vidarbha, the likes of Apoorv Wankhede, Akshay Karnewar, Faiz Fazal, Akshay Wakhare and Aditya Sarvate, are already on the IPL franchises' wish lists.

While Fazal finished the second highest run-scorer in the Ranji Trophy, Wakhare and Sarvate were among the top ten wicket-takers in the country.

While few of the Vidarbha players have already given trials for Mumbai Indians (MI), another lot is expected to do the same for Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Monday (15 January).

The former Rajasthan Royals coach and talent scout of Gujarat Lions, Monty Desai, admitted that big IPL teams and talent scouts had their eyes on Vidarbha players.

He stated that the Vidarbha players' form was being observed in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament, and would play an important role from an IPL auction point of view.

While adding that the Inter-Zonal Twenty20 was fast-tracked by the BCCI in order to acquire short-format talent ahead of the approaching IPL player auctions, Desai said, "If Vidarbha qualifies for the Super League they will get a few more matches to impress the IPL teams."