Shubham Dubey (L) and Sameer Rizvi© X (formerly Twitter)
Uncapped Indian batters Sameer Rizvi And Shubham Dubey emerged as surprise big-money picks in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 Auction on Tuesday with both cricketers sparking massive bidding wars among the franchises. While Dubey was picked by Rajasthan Royals for Rs 5.8 crore, Rizvi ended up with Chennai Super Kings for a massive amount of Rs 8.4 crore. Both cricketers come with proven track records in the domestic circuit and their performances as a finisher made them attractive commodities for the franchises. While Dubey plays for Vidarbha in domestic cricket, Rizvi plays for Uttar Pradesh.
Dubey impressed everyone with his explosive batting performances at the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy where he scored 221 runs in seven innings at a strike rate of 187.28. He played an integral role in Vidarbha's record run-chase against Bengal where he came out to bat as an Impact Player.
Chasing a target of 213, he scored an unbeaten 58 off just 20 deliveries to clinch the encounter with 13 balls to spare. The innings, which had 3 fours and 6 sixes, was lauded by experts and fans alike.
On the other hand, Rizvi ended up hitting the most number of sixes for Kanpur Superstars at the UP T20 League. He scored 455 runs in the competition with two explosive hundreds. The performance earned him trials with multiple IPL franchises but he chose to play for the U-23 UP team.
Rizvi was among the top 10 six-hitters in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy with a strike rate of 139.89.
Meanwhile, Mitchell Starc surpassed his Australian bowling partner Pat Cummins to become the most expensive buy in IPL history with an eye popping bid of Rs 24.75 crore.
Not long after Cummins fetched an unprecedented pay packet of 20.50 crore from Sunrisers Hyderabad, Starc raised the bar when Kolkata Knight Riders made a multi million dollar bid for the left-arm pacer who last played in the IPL in 2015.
Such are the unpredictable ways of IPL that the one third of the formidable Australian pace trio, Josh Hazlewood, went unsold in the first round of auction from a base price of Rs 2 crore.
Gujarat Titans and KKR were involved in a long and exhilarating bidding battle for Starc before the latter lapped him up for a record deal.
Starc, 33, has usually prioritised international duty over IPL but decided to enter the auction with one eye on the T20 World Cup that follows the IPL.
He has only played only two seasons of the IPL, taking 34 wickets in 27 games at an average of 20.38.
In contrast, Cummins has been a regular at the IPL but skipped the 2023 edition to focus on the Ashes and the ODI World Cup.
An intense bidding war followed for Cummins with Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Chennai Super Kings, and Sunrisers Hyderabad raising their paddles frenetically to secure the services of the fast bowling all-rounder.
In the end, it was SRH who broke the bank for Cummins, who drew the highest-ever bid surpassing the Rs 18.5 crore that Punjab Kings had shelled out for England's Sam Curran last year.
(With PTI inputs)
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