On Saturday, fast bowler Navdeep Saini became the latest breakthrough star from Delhi as Royal Challengers Bangalore snapped up the lanky pacer for Rs 3 crore.
On Saturday, fast bowler Navdeep Saini became the latest breakthrough star from Delhi as Royal Challengers Bangalore snapped up the lanky pacer for Rs 3 crore.
Coming from the land that has given Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan, the lanky pacer has picked up 29 wickets in seven matches in the Ranji trophy.
Having grown up idolising speedsters Mitchell Johnson and Bret Lee, Saini averaged above 140 km/h throughout the season. What’s truly fascinating is how the outsider accidentally entered Delhi’s cricket circuit.
Never having any money to join an academy, he was spotted by another Delhi bowler Sumit Narwal. The latter was so impressed that he asked him to join his academy even though he didn’t have money to pay the academy. It was there when he brushed with fame when as a net bowler he bowled to India cricketer Gautam Gambhir who was quite impressed with the young lad.
Like most cricketers, he was let down by the apathetic DDCA administration and was even targeted for being an ‘outsider’.
Legend has it that Gambhir clashed with Delhi coach KP Bhaskar to include Navdeep Saini along with Nitish Rana and Unmukt Chand in the squad. The fallout led to a four-match ban and Gambhir lost his captaincy.
Last season he had been picked up by Delhi Daredevils for Rs 10 lakh, where he was guided by Zaheer Khan and Rahul Dravid.
His spell helped Delhi reach the final of the Ranji Trophy this season and he ended up with figures of 7/90.
Let’s see how the young lad will cope with the hustle of the bustle of the IPL. With a captain like Virat Kohli, it could be a very interesting experience.
Indian players dominated the bidding wars as KL Rahul and Manish Pandey laughed their way to the bank with multi-million dollar deals but England all- rounder Ben Stokes once again emerged the costliest buy in the IPL auctions, here today.
Despite all the off-field controversies, Stokes was snapped up for a whopping Rs 12.5 crore (USD 1.96 million) by Rajasthan Royals after Kings XI Punjab and Chennai Super Kings also engaged in a fierce bidding war for him.
The franchises were smart in their choices with most of the current India players attracting significant interest.
Stylish opener Rahul and middle-order batsman Pandey bagged deals worth Rs 11 crore (USD 1.73 million) from Kings XI Punjab and Sunrisers Hyderabad respectively.
With their prices sky-rocketing, the two players' original franchises RCB and KKR didn't use their Right To Match (RTM) cards.
Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan Arman's reputation as one of the most sought after bowlers in the shortest format was once again affirmed as Sunrisers Hyderabad used their Right To Match (RTM) card to buy him back for Rs 9 crore (USD 1.41 million).
The Karnataka players had a field day at the auctions with India discard Karun Nair also triggering a bidding war before Kings XI Punjab got him for Rs 5.60 crore (USD 880,000).
Kedar Jadhav, one of Mahendra Singh Dhoni 'Go To Man' during his last stint as India captain, also fetched a healthy price of Rs 7.80 crore for his all-round qualities of batting, round-arm off-spin and back-up wicket-keeping. He was snapped by the Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings.
Chennai, however, didn't bid vigorously for Ravichandran Ashwin, who will now ply his trade for Kings XI Punjab at a salary of Rs 7.60 crore (USD 1.19 million).
With inputs from PTI
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