IPL 9 auction: Discarded, uncapped cricket players steal the show this season

Shane Watson, Yuvraj Singh and Ashish Nehra — three ‘discards’ who were almost lost in oblivion and struggling to get back into their respective countries’ teams till a few months back — made a strong comeback by finding themselves among the top 10 most expensive players in the Indian Premier League ( IPL) 2016 auction held in Bengaluru on Saturday.

But the day clearly belonged to the young uncapped Indian players — three among the top 10 — as the franchisees vied with each other to spot raw talent who are yet to don the national colours. Uncapped 23-year-old Pawan Negi and a former Chennai Super Kings player saw his valuation skyrocket from a base price of Rs 30 lakh to a whopping Rs 8.5 crore, making him the most expensive Indian player this IPL season.

Another uncapped all-rounder Murugan Ashwin’s valuation soared 45 times to touch a jaw-dropping Rs 4.5 crore. And if this is not enough, Deepak Hooda and Karun Nair were bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad and Delhi Daredevils at bids that were 42 and 40 times of their base price, respectively.