JEDDAH, Nov 25:
Bihar’s Vaibhav Suryavanshi, at 13 years, became the youngest ever player to be picked by an IPL franchise while out-of-favour India seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar fetched a winning bid of Rs 10.75 crore from Royal Challengers Bengaluru on a largely predictable second day of the mega auction, here on Monday.
Suryavanshi went to Rajasthan Royals for Rs 1.10 crore. Suryavanshi, talked about as a prodigy, made his T20 debut for Bihar in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy against Rajasthan on Saturday and scored a 6-ball 13 before falling to Deepak Chahar.
Suryavanshi made headlines recently when he became the youngest batter to score an international century, achieving the feat in a Youth Test for India Under-19 against Australia U-19 in Chennai. He smashed 104 off 62 balls in that match.
Ajinkya Rahane, who had gone unsold earlier in the day, returned to the auction and to the Kolkata Knight Riders’ camp for Rs 1.50 crore.
However, the Mumbai duo of Shardul Thakur and Prithvi Shaw along with New Zealand stars Kane Williamson and Glenn Phillips were among the unsold players.
But before the youngster sprang a surprise, lesser-fancied Indian fast bowlers hit pay dirt.
Out of national reckoning for more than two years, Bhuvneshwar’s experience was in demand among the IPL franchises earlier in the day.
Bhuvneshwar, who will be 35 before the start of next IPL, has 300 wickets from 287 career T20 games and an economy rate of less than eight. But he last played for India during a tour of New Zealand in November 2022 and is considered well past his prime at the international level.
However, with at least three Indian pacers needed per team, the pool is not large enough to ensure equal distribution among the 10 teams. (PTI)
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