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13-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi on Monday became the youngest cricketer to be sold at an IPL auction, stealing the limelight from veteran fast bowlers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Deepak Chahar.
Suryavanshi, a left-handed batter and spinner from the eastern Indian state of Bihar, was bought by Rajasthan Royals for $130,500 on the second and final day of a record auction in Jeddah .
Suryavanshi arrived at a base price of $35,591 among many world-class cricketers put under the hammer ahead of the 18th edition of the T20 tournament.
Australian David Warner remained unsold at the auction, as he also found no takers in the fast-track round.
England’s Jonny Bairstow also failed to find an IPL team, while 42-year-old fast bowler James Anderson, who retired from England in the summer, failed to attract any team after be listed at the base price of $148,115.
Bowlers Seam Kumar and Chahar attracted top prizes on the second day, but Rajasthan’s match-winning bid of Suryavanshi stood out.
He made his national Ranji debut at the age of 12 in January and was more recently selected in the Indian under-19 team which played four-day matches against a touring Australian team in Chennai.
He scored a triple century in an under-19 ODI tournament in Bihar.
Earlier today, experienced fast bowler Kumar went to Royal Challengers Bengaluru for $1.27 million, while Mumbai Indians picked up Chahar for $1.09 million.
Rishabh Pant broke the auction record on day one when Lucknow Super Giants got the star wicketkeeper for a whopping $3.2 million, while Punjab Kings also bought Shreyas Iyer for 3, $17 million on Sunday.
“For us, getting Rishabh was a huge win,” Lucknow coach Justin Langer said on the sidelines of the auction.
“Overall we had a very good auction. It’s the best national competition in the world and it will be really competitive when it starts next March.”
Indian all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer on day one became the third highest buy when he traveled to Kolkata for $2.81 million after a fierce bidding war with Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
– Fast Indians concede –
The final day began with a series of unsold players and some frugal purchases, before South African left-armer Marco Jansen traveled to Punjab for $830,000.
The focus then turned to the Indian quicks.
Mukesh Kumar went to Delhi Capitals for $942,000, with bowler Akash Deep going to Lucknow for the same price.
Five-time champions Mumbai went big for Chahar, before securing 18-year-old Afghan spinner Allah Ghazanfar for $569,000.
“I’m very happy about this position because we have our 12th game. It’s locked in now,” Mumbai owner Akash Ambani said.
“Over the last three years, we’ve really thought about what balance we really need to get back to winning ways.”
Mumbai, who last won an IPL title in 2020, then made a winning bid for England all-rounder Will Jacks for $622,849.
Uncapped Indian batsman Priyansh Arya, who hit six sixes in an over during the Delhi Premier League T20 tournament, entered the auction with $35,591 and got $450,824 from Punjab.
The IPL is a huge revenue generator for Indian cricket and the tournament brings in over $11 billion to the economy every year.
The pioneering IPL helped make T20 cricket hugely popular, spawning copycat events around the world.
Dates for next year’s IPL have not been released, but seasons typically run from March to May.
fk/bsp
