Rishabh Pant
Credit: PTI Photo
It’s early in the day in Perth, and Rishabh Pant looks rather crude. The southpaw is all sprawled up on the floor after getting stumped by Alex Carey off Nathan Lyon as India looked to up the ante and put Australia away for good measure in the first Test.
Pant wasn’t having the best of days, shaking his head on his long walk back to the pavilion. Only a few hours later, though, one can safely assume that that blundering memory was relegated to history.
After all, he had been bought by the Lucknow Super Giants for Rs 27 crore during the auction in Jeddah on Sunday to become the most expensive player in the history of the Indian Premier League.
While on expected lines, watching the tally creep up while Lucknow, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Punjab Kings and the Sunrisers played tug-of-war for the generational talent at a venue in the presence of spectators was riveting, deserving even.
Only a year ago, it wasn’t certain if Pant was going be able to get onto a cricket field again after a near-fatal accident, and here he was - well, his name at least - getting swarms of attention to most likely become the next captain of Lucknow.
What made this sale even more impressive is the fact that Pant managed to hog the limelight even though Shreyas Iyer had only minutes ago become the most expensive player in the history of the IPL after being bought by Punjab Kings for Rs 26.75 crore.
Inferring from the push for both Pant and Iyer, franchisees were looking to pick up captains to take them through the next season and possibly the ones to come. In that sense, it was a surprise that KL Rahul didn’t attract more than the Rs 14 crore he bagged on his walk into the Delhi Capitals’ dressing room.
On the other end of the spectrum, another left-hander with a penchant for unorthodox aggression - Venkatesh Iyer - was bought out, unsurprisingly, by the Kolkata Knight Riders for a premium of Rs 23.75 crore.
Once again, Lucknow, despite picking up Pant already, went after Iyer before losing traction soon. Then it was a long-standing tussle between RCB and KKR before the former pulled out - as had become the norm by this time in the auction.
Another interesting buy came from the Chennai Super Kings when they went out on a limb to acquire R Ashwin. At 38-years-old, it’s safe to say his best years are behind him in this format, but knowing CSK, they’re surely going to use the homecoming to market the offie and potentially even use him as a mentor to assist the next generation.
Staying with the Super Kings, they made prudent choices, even buying back a bunch of players who have represented in the past. In the same vein, Punjab bought back Arshdeep Singh for a handsome Rs 18 crore after opting for RTM. Even Yuzvendra Chahal pocketed an identical amount after the services of his leg-break were bought out by Punjab.
Big money trends, though, bucked because there was only so much splurging happening in the direction of foreign players. Jos Buttler was the highest foreign pick with the Gujarat Titans spending Rs 15.75 for his hard-hitting talent.
Mitchel Starc, who only last season was the highest paid in history at Rs 24.75 crore, was snagged by Delhi Capitals for a relatively underwhelming Rs 11.75 crore.
In all, the day has been a productive day for the purveyors of cricket with three of the top five most expensive buys coming in this edition of the auction, and another day remains. Surely, there won’t be many big buys coming out of Monday, but that doesn’t mean the lives of the dreamers can’t change for the better.