5 Unexpected moments in IPL Auctions

The Indian Premier League (IPL) is one of the biggest T20 tournaments and is mostly regarded as the cash-rich league. The quality of cricket is at its best and players from all across the globe compete in this league. However, there is a lot that goes behind the scenes. One of the processes is the IPL auction.

Year after year, hundreds of players go under the hammer and are sold to different teams. There are bidding wars for various cricketers, both international and domestic. But there are also some unexpected and surprising moments that stun everybody,

Hence, here we look back at five of the most unexpected moments in the history of IPL Auctions

1. KXIP picking up Gayle in the third round (2018)

After a rather sedate time with the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the first three seasons, Chris Gayle went unsold in the 2011 IPL auctions. However, he was called up by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) as an injury replacement. Hence, that time on, Gayle became a force.

He blasted bowling attacks all around the ground and kept racking up big scores. He was the heart of the RCB line-up for the next few years and was smashing records left, right and centre. But in 2016 and 2017, he couldn’t keep up with his form and had two bad years. Thus, RCB decided to let him go. Having set his base price at INR 2 crore, the Jamaican opener went unsold in the first two rounds of the auction in 2018.

Just when everyone thought that the time has passed for the ‘Universe Boss’, Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) came out of nowhere to buy Gayle at his base price. The left-handed opener has done well and has been KXIP’s second-highest run-scorer in 2018 and 2019.