IPL 2019: 5 Unknown Indian players picked in the auction

Not many would have predicted a bright future for the Indian Premier League (IPL) which began as an experiment in 2008 when this cricket-obsessed nation was basking in the glory of the historic World T20I triumph. It also proved to be a platform for the players, the lesser known performers to take the centre stage and make a name for themselves at a grand stage.

But apart from all this, one aspect that played a pivotal part in the league’s meteoric rise was how it made relatively unknown players overnight stars. Almost in every auction, one sees several players hitting the jackpot despite not being high-profile names.

Well, the recently-concluded IPL 2019 auction was not an exception either. So through this article, we take a look at five players who bagged lucrative IPL deals despite being relatively unknown in the cricketing fraternity.

1. Prabhsimran Singh

The 17-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman from Punjab will be thanking the almighty after bagging an eye-popping deal in the auction. The teenager who had a base price of Rs 20 lakhs was bought for 4.8 crores by Kings XI Punjab after an intense bidding war that involved Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians.

Cousin of Punjab star Anmolpreet Singh, Prabhsimran has been waving with his big-hitting prowess.  Earlier this year, he slammed 298 off just 301 balls against Amritsar in the semi-final of the Punjab U-23 Inter-District Cricket Tournament.

The batsman, who is yet to make his first-class debut, was also a part of the Indian team that very recently finished runners-up at the ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup in Sri Lanka.