IPL 2017: List Of Rejects Who Deserved To Be Picked
Feb 20, 2017 at 6:56 PM
The IPL 2017 Auction which concluded today saw a total of 351 players go under the hammer. The event which took place in Bengaluru saw a fair bit of action as the franchise engaged in a bidding war. Englishman Ben Stokes ended up being the costliest buy this season going home with a price tag of a whopping 14.5 crores, thanks to Rising Pune Supergiants audacious move. Others promising names like Tymal Mills, Mohammad Nabi, Mitchell Johnson and others also were bought at pricey sums. However, not all the players were lucky today. A few stars, who seemed like ‘obvious’ buys ended up in the unsold category eventually. Here is the list of five such names who were too good to be ignored but were still neglected at the auctions.
Mohammad Shahzad:
Afghanistan’s most valuable player – Mohammad Shahzad – was one of the most exciting talents in the auction pool. In the past couple of years, he has been the most exciting batsmen from the Associate nations fraternity. The burly wicket keeper batsman created a lot of buzz and many strongly predicted a huge price against his name. But, strangely, no franchise thoughts were a bit contrarian and seemed completely uninterested in him. Subsequently, the star Afghani had no takers and found his name in the unsold column.
Imran Tahir:
Can the World No.1 bowler in both the format – ODIs and T20Is- get ignored in the IPL auction? Yes, it is completely possible! To prove this fact, we have South African spin bowling ace Imran Tahir, who was, to everyone’s surprise, found no buyers in the auction. did not generate any interest in both the rounds of bidding. He was released by Delhi Daredevils ahead of this season and has a base price of 50 Lakhs. His recent has been phenomenal and keeping that in mind, it was expected that the leg spinner would perhaps become one of the top buys. Unfortunately, as it happened today, the outcome would be bit stunning for him as well as his fans.
Brad Hogg:
Brad Hogg’s stocks in the IPL has seemingly gone down this year. Despite being in good form and consistent performance to show, the 46-year-old evergreen cricketer attracted no bid in today’s auction. Hogg, who was associated with the Kolkata Knight Riders for the last two seasons, was released ahead of the auction. With a maturing Kuldeep Yadav in their side, KKR perhaps felt he wasn’t required. However, it was anticipated that other franchise would go after him. But, surprisingly the tweaker, who looked in form during this year’s BBL season, was left in cold.
Ishant Sharma:
India’s fast bowling spearhead, Ishant Sharma, was the most surprising name who failed to attract a bid today. Ishant, who featured for Rising Pune Super Giants last season, was put in the auction pool after the franchise didn’t retain him. Thus, he entered the auction as a marquee player with a base price of 2 crores. Unfortunately, no franchise was remotely interested in getting him as a part of their line – up as repeated call for a bid went unheard in the morning session as well in the post – lunch session. This eventually meant that he was the only ‘marquee’ to have gone unsold today.
Irfan Pathan:
Irfan Pathan won’t be featuring in this season’s IPL as the star all-rounder was left unsold in the auction. The left arm swing bowler was one of the top buys in the last two season but was struggling to get worthy opportunities. He played in 4 matches last season for the Rising Pune Supergiants before being released in the action pool ahead of this season. The former Indian cricketer would have perhaps thought of this as an opportunity to join a new franchise and expect more playing chances. He could have in fact done well considering his recent form in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. But, unfortunately, the franchise owner weren’t too optimistic about the 332-year-oldand chose not to bid for him.