Bengaluru: Veteran Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin's prediction came out true as Avesh Khan became the most costliest player in the IPL auction history after he was picked up by the new entrant Lucknow Super Giants for a whooping Rs 10 crore, putting behind K Gowtham by a good notch of Rs 75 lakh.
Earlier, Ashwin had revealed that Avesh could well spark bidding wars in the auction. Avesh was heavily bided by Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians. His last paycheck in IPL was just Rs 70 lakh.
Previously, Gowtham was the most expensive when he was bought by Punjab Kings in the 2020 auction.
Avesh is part of the T20 Team India and was picked up for national services against West Indies.
He had a very good last season as he finished as second-highest wicket-taker with an economy rate of 7.37 and strike rate of 15.25. He was released by Delhi Capitals last year after the franchise retained Rishabh Pant, Anrich Nortje, Prithvi Shaw, and Axar Patel.
Other uncapped Indian players, Shahrukh Khan and Rahul Tewatia also earned 20 times more than their base price at the event.
Shahrukh, a Tamil Nadu player, was picked up by Punjab Kings for Rs 9 crore after the franchises battled it out for him. His base price was a mere Rs 40 lakh. He has scored 231 runs at an average of 33 and has two fifties to his credit with an unbeaten knock of 92 being his highest score. In last year's IPL, Shahrukh played 11 matches and scored 153 runs at an average of 21.9 with 47 being his highest score.
On the flipside, Tewatia was bought for a whopping price of Rs 8.50 crore by Sunrisers Hyderabad. He had played for Rising Pune Supergiant, Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders, and consistently performed for them. Tewatia came to prominence after he equalled Chris Gayle's record for hitting most sixes in an over of an IPL match. He had fired 5 sixes off Sheldon Cottrell in the 18th over of the match against Kings XI Punjab, smashing 53 runs in 31 balls, guiding his team to chase 224 runs target, which became the highest runs ever chased in the Indian Premier League history.
Indian leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal was bought by Rajasthan Royals for Rs 6.5 crore while Indian spinner Kuldeep Yadav was picked up by Delhi Capitals for Rs 2 crore. Punjab Kings acquired Rahul Chahar for Rs 5.25 crore.
Indian all-rounder Shardul Thakur was acquired by Delhi Capitals for Rs 10.75 crore, while Bangladesh Pacer Mustafizur Rahman went to the same franchise for Rs 2 crore.
Hyderabad bagged Indian pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar for Rs 4.2 crore and T Natarajan for Rs 4 crore. (UNI)
