The Indian players are the biggest draws in the IPL. They are the ones who draw big money in the auctions. In the inaugural season of the IPL, few Indian players were given the status of Icon players. But since then there have been few Indian players who have missed the bus. Indian players who went unsold in IPL Auctions. At times it has been painful to see them going unsold in the auctions.
Let’s look at Top 5 Indian players who went unsold in the IPL auctions:
#5 RP Singh
RP Singh had a glorious run of form from 2007-10. He was a T20 world champion (2007) and an IPL winner (2009). Singh was the purple cap holder in 2009. But his career saw a major downturn since then. He failed to garner attention in the 2014 and 2015 auctions. But in a surprising turn of events, he got to play for Rising Pune Supergiants in 2016.
#4 VVS Laxman
VVS Laxman played an integral role in India’s rise in world cricket. But the same cannot be said about him in the game’s shortest format. He let go of his icon player status in the first season where he represented the Deccan Chargers. Laxman played for Kochi Tuskers Kerala in 2011. But he failed to get a buyer in the 2012 auctions.
#3 Ishant Sharma
Ishant Sharma has been one of India’s leading fast bowlers for well over a decade now. He went for INR 3.7 crores in the Inaugural IPL season. Sharma disturbing Rahul Dravid’s stumps in the first season of IPL was one of the highlights of the league. But since then Sharma has not exactly set the IPL on fire barring a couple of occasions. The lanky pacer found no takers in the 2018 IPL Auctions. He went unsold and Sharma chose to play county cricket. This helped him get back into the business. He is now one of the leading bowlers for the Delhi Capitals.
#2 Sourav Ganguly
Sourav Ganguly is one of the biggest names in Indian cricket. He was KKR’s icon player in 2008. Ganguly captained them in 2008 and 2010. But he was far from a hit in the IPL. He failed to come to terms with the modern T20 game. In 2011 mega auctions, KKR released Ganguly. He found no takers in the auctions. It came as a big jolt to the entire cricketing fraternity when Ganguly went unsold. But he later got a chance to represent the new franchise Pune Warriors India in 2011 as Ashish Nehra’s replacement.
#1 Hardik Pandya
Hardik Pandya is arguably India’s most valuable allrounder in T20 cricket. Pandya has been nothing short of sensational for MI since he joined them in 2015. MI bought Pandya at his base price of INR 10 lakhs in IPL 2015 auctions. His current IPL salary is a humungous INR 11 crores. But not many might be knowing the fact that Pandya had gone unsold in IPL Auctions in 2014. Teams didn’t show faith in his services back then. What a costly miss!
