- Monday, November 25, 2024
The 18-year-old Ghazanfar had recently rattled the Bangladesh batting lineup by scalping six wickets during an ODI in Sharjah
By: Shajil Kumar
FLAMBOYANT Indian opener Prithvi Shaw and seam-bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur failed to find any takers but Washington Sundar was bought by Gujarat Titans for ₹32 million (£301,655.26) on the second day of the IPL mega auction in Jeddah on Monday.
Meanwhile, Mumbai Indians bought Afghanistan’s mystery spinner Allah Ghazanfar for Rs 48 million (£452,482.90). Last year, he was a part of the Knight Riders, but did not get to play a single match.
The 18-year-old had recently rattled the Bangladesh batting lineup in the first ODI of the three-match series at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. He took six wickets for 26 runs and helped Afghans win by 92 runs.
The other prominent unsold players are New Zealand batting stars Kane Williamson and Glenn Phillips, and seasoned India batter Ajinkya Rahane.
South African veteran Faf du Plessis and West Indian Rovman Powell were bought for ₹20 million and ₹15 million by Delhi Capitals and Kolkata Knight Riders respectively.
The unsold players can find buyers later in the day during the accelerated auction if their names are given by the franchises.
Akash Ambani happy
Mumbai Indians owner Akash Ambani on Monday expressed his delight after succeeding in his plans to pair the peerless Jasprit Bumrah with New Zealand pace great Trent Boult for the 2025 IPL.
MI have zeroed in on their playing 12 which includes the bowling partnership of Boult with Bumrah, said Ambani.
The five-time champions had unsuccessfully paired Bumrah with Jofra Archer over the last two editions but the continuous absence of the English bowler due to injuries hampered the team’s plans.
“Trent Boult and Bumrah are back, that’s the partnership that we really wanted,” Ambani told the media during his press conference.
Regarding Ghaznafar buy, Ambani said, “It takes a lot of convincing for us to go for a foreign spinner,” Ambani said.
“We really rated Allah as a package. So happy to have him,” he added.
RCB: Phil Salt to partner Kohli
RCB head coach Andy Flower confirmed England batter Phil Salt will partner Virat Kohli at the top of the order for his side in the next IPL.
“We got a lot of our first options, actually. We’re really happy with where we stand at the moment. We’ve got power up front to an opening batsman like Salt to partner Virat, was really important for us to have that sort of aggression to partner Virat,” he said.
“We’ve got power in the middle, batting, absolutely. (Liam) Livingston is really exciting to have alongside Rajat (Patidar) and Jitesh (Sharma). We know that he is a man probably still with the best ahead of him.”
Flower said the addition of veteran India seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar along with Krunal Pandya in the bowling unit, which also includes Josh Hazlewood, will serve them well.
Flower said RCB wanted to fix on an opening batter which did not work in favour of the former captain Faf du Plessis. (PTI)
