IPL 2018 Auction: 5 International stars who went unsold

The cash-rich mega-event IPL Auction is over, with eight franchises coming together to build a squad from the scratch, with the franchises having the choice of retaining only three players. A total of 169 players were sold, with over 300 players going unsold. The recently concluded Auction saw a lot of key players going unsold, with Lasith Malinga being one of the prominent names to have gone unsold. While the West Indian Chris Gayle was bought by the Kings XI Punjab for a sum of Rs 2 crores, South Africa‘s Hashim Amla who had a better season with the Kings XI Punjab went unsold.

Australian all-rounder James Faulkner, who has been pretty much an apex part of the Rajasthan Royals squad did not get any suitors in the recently concluded Auction much to the surprise of the Australian. The franchises since then have tried and tested out several foreigners who have gone the way in bringing success to the tournament.

Let us look at the five top International stars who have been given the boot in the IPL Auction 2018:

1. Lasith Malinga (Sri Lanka)

Arguably one of the best in the limited overs, Lasith Malinga spent his entire career with the Mumbai Indians with whom he won three IPL titles. Despite being the top cricketer he is, the right-arm sling bowler remained unsold in the 2018 IPL Auction. In his illustrious IPL career, the right-arm bowler has taken 154 wickets giving away only 6.86 runs an over.

Further, Malinga has an excellent strike-rate, picking up a wicket every 16th delivery. With the bat too, the right-hander has not shied away knocking the long ball out of the park. Malinga’s best inning with the bat for the Mumbai Indians came in the Champions League T20 match against the Chennai Super Kings, where he guided his side home scoring 36 runs. At a base price of 1 crore, any of the franchise could have taken the risk with the pacer.