The Indian Premier League 2024 Auctions witnessed history as more than 200 crore rupees were spent by the ten franchises with a few teams leaving the auction venue in Dubai happier than the others who missed out on their top targets.
The first IPL auction being held outside India saw some benchmarks being set with three Australian fast bowlers going for a combined fee of more than INR 55 crores. Kolkata Knight Riders’ pursuit and signing of Mitchell Starc for a record price of INR 24.75 crores was the obvious highlight of the day as the IPL Auction record got broken twice with Pat Cummins also going for INR 20.5 crores earlier in the day.
But, the mini-auction also saw many uncapped players bagging huge contracts on Tuesday after impressing the scouts of various franchises in the domestic circuit. Performances in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and the recently concluded Vijay Hazare Trophy were highly rewarded as the players will now start focusing on taking the next big step.
Let’s take a look at the Top 5 Uncapped Players signed in the IPL 2024 Auction:
#5 Yash Dayal (Royal Challengers Bangalore: INR 5 Cr)
Yash Dayal was a part of the Gujarat Titans squad that won the 2022 edition of the annual tournament and played a few matches in IPL 2023 as well. The left-arm fast bowler made his IPL debut against Rajasthan Royals and has played 14 matches in the franchise-based league so far scalping a total of 13 wickets at an economy rate of more than 10.
Dayal would never forget his outing against Kolkata Knight Riders early in the IPL 2023 season as he was smacked for 38 runs in the first three overs. The worst was yet to come though as the seamer conceded 31 runs off the last over as Rinku Singh smashed five maximums off five balls to take his side over the line.
The seamer fought back and delivered brilliant performances in domestic tournaments for Uttar Pradesh in the 2023 season prompting Royal Challengers Bangalore to sign him after fighting off competition from previous employers Gujarat Titans.
#4 Shubham Dubey (Rajasthan Royals: INR 5.8 Cr)
Shubham Dubey will be waiting to make his debut in the pink colors of Rajasthan Royals
Shubham Dubey was the first uncapped player to be picked in the IPL 2024 Auction and the much-discussed batter attracted bids from Delhi Capitals and Rajasthan Royals with the Jaipur-based franchise bagging the left-handed batter for a whopping price of INR 5.8 crore.
The Vidharbha batter accumulated 221 runs in the 2023 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy at an average of 73.66 and an eye-catching strike rate of 187.3 helping his side reach the quarter-final of the annual domestic T20 tournament.
On the back of a successful SMAT campaign, Dubey was given a chance to impress in the longer format as well as he scored 159 runs across six innings at a strike rate upwards of 90. The southpaw also top-scored for his side in the quarter-final loss against Karnataka.
Dubey would be competing with the likes of Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, and the latest big-money acquisition Rovman Powell as three of the five batters will comprise the No.4 to No.6 slots with five bowlers following them.
#3 Kumar Kushagra (Delhi Capitals: INR 7.2 Cr)
When two champion teams like Chennai Super Kings and Gujarat Titans are after a 19-year old, it often speaks gloriously for the teenager in question. After a tug of war for Kumar Kushagra, Delhi Capitals which is currently in limbo about the availability of their star wicket-keeper batter Rishabh Pant, bagged the teenager’s signature for a whopping fee of INR 7.2 crore.
The Bokaro-born power-hitter had an impressive campaign in the 2022 Vijay Hazare Trophy and an even better 2023 Deodhar Trophy campaign but tailed off a bit lately as his bat didn’t shine in the 2023 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and the 2023 Vijay Hazare Trophy.
The wicket-keeper batter from Jharkhand also holds the record of being the youngest batter to score 250+ runs in first-class cricket which remains the only century of his senior career to date. Delhi Capitals struggled for runs from their lower-order batters in IPL 2023 and would be hoping that their latest acquisition would pay off in the near future.
#2 Shahrukh Khan (Gujarat Titans: INR 7.4 Cr)
Punjab Kings once again released Shahrukh Khan and went after him in the auction yet again
Shahrukh Khan made his Indian Premier League debut during the 2021 edition after the Punjab Kings signed him for INR 5.25 crore.
At the IPL 2023 Auction, the Tamil Nadu-based power-hitter became the joint second-highest expensive uncapped player in the history of the league, only behind Avesh Khan as the Kings splashed an amount of INR 9 crore on the finisher after releasing him into the auction.
The Kings came without a definitive strategy into the IPL 2024 Auction and it showed as they once again went for Shahrukh after releasing him and were ready to splash upwards of INR 7 crore but Gujarat Titans finally bagged their replacement for Hardik Pandya, the middle-order batter.
To date, Khan has scored 426 runs in 31 IPL innings at an average of more than 20 and a strike rate of 134.81 which shows enough signs of promise as the all-rounder would be hoping to leave an impact in the 2024 edition of the cash-rich league.
#1 Sameer Rizvi (Chennai Super Kings: INR 8.4 Cr)
The 20-year old batter Sameer Rizvi enjoyed the biggest payday amongst the uncapped players as Chennai Super Kings decided to fill the Ambati Rayudu-shaped hole in their middle order with the hard-hitting Rizvi.
Rizvi was being chased by both CSK and GT till the price reached INR 7.6 crore and the Ahmedabad-based franchised decided to pull the plug on the deal. The MS Dhoni-led side would have been happy to bag the player for that price but Delhi Capitals who had the likes of Ricky Ponting, Saurav Ganguly, and Rishabh Pant present on their table decided to go for the batter but the Super Kings eventually bagged the player for INR 8.4 crore.
Captain of the Kanpur Superstars in the inaugural edition of the UP T20 League, Rizvi smashed two centuries accumulating 455 runs in 9 innings. Despite his side not qualifying for the semi-final stage, Rizvi finished as the batter who scored the most number of sixes in the tournament with 35 maximums against his name.
In the 2023 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Rizvi smashed 18 maximums despite facing less than 200 balls in the competition. Rizvi smashed 75 runs off 46 balls against a Tamil Nadu attack consisting of bowlers like Varun Chakravarthy, R Sai Kishore, Washington Sundar, Sandeep Warrier, Kuldeep Sen, and T Natarajan.
