A moment of respite for Indian cricketers despite loss of freedom series would be cheques of crores from IPL franchises to which they have been sold to.After all who won’t like when the wounds of defeat would get mend in terms of money.
This time IPL auction is lined up with finale matches of Australian open and U-19 cricket world cup on TV screens for telecast which is a perfect extravaganza for sports enthusiasts.But this year IPL auction are a bit different from previous ones,this time franchises has retained their key players with a whopping amount of 16-18 crores and let other players to be bagged by different teams. This process of bidding and buying of players will ultimately create whole new teams for upcoming IPL season.This new IPL season will also welcome back finalists from first IPL season that are Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings who are coming after completing a ban of two years.
Talking about players what baffled me the most is transfer of Gautam Gambhir from Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in whose captaincy team won two titles to Delhi Daredevils.Moving ahead, all-rounder Ben Stokes of England goes to Rajasthan Royals after a whopping bid of 12.5 crores,KKR’s first pick of IPL 2018 auction is Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc from 9.4 crores.Royal Challengers Bangalore get Virat Kohli,AB De Villiers and Brendan Mccullum as their explosive top-order batsman which will surely be a treat to watch.
Thus, expensive players so far are Ben Stokes,KL Rahul,Chriss Lynn and Manish Pandey who have been sold to Rajasthan Royals, Kings XI Punjab,Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders respectively. Those in whom franchises saw no potential and remained unsold so far are Chris Gayle,Joe Root and Hashim Amla which has again flabbergasted me.
Now it can officially be said that the stage is set for desi cricket carnival that is IPL with all its magnificence and glamour which will surely be a visual treat for cricket lovers and enthusiasts.
