Krishnappa Gowtham, who pocketed a record Rs 9.25 crore at the auction last year, was sold for Rs 90 lakh to new entrants Lucknow Super Giants during IPL 2022 auction Day 2 in Bengaluru on Sunday.
Last season, the Indian all-rounder set the record by becoming the most expensive uncapped player ever in the franchise league when Chennai Super Kings roped him in for the aforementioned whopping amount.
However, the 33-year-old Karnataka cricketer never earned the trust of captain MS Dhoni as he played no games during CSK's title-winning campaign and was subsequently released by the franchise ahead of the mega auction. He did feature
On Sunday, Lucknow faced little difficulties in buying Gowtham (base price Rs 50 lakh) as Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Capitals opted out of the race after their initial bids.
At the time of writing this report, Liam Livingstone, base price Rs 1 crore, broke the bank as Punjab Kings roped in the English all-rounder for Rs 11.5 crore after bidding wars with KKR, CSK and Gujarat Titans.
West Indies'bowling all-rounder Odean Smith (base price Rs 1 crore) had a big payday as well as he was wrapped up by Punjab Kings for Rs 6 crore.
South Africa's young lanky pacer Marco Jansen, who had an impressive series against India recently, was sold for Rs 4.2 crore to Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Indian all-rounder Shivam Dube, who was sold for Rs 4.40 crore at the last auction by Rajasthan Royals, went to CSK for Rs 4 crore. Indian veteran batter Ajinkya Rahane, meanwhile, was sold to Kolkata Knight Riders at the base price of Rs 1 crore.
Aiden Markram was the first player to sold in the day for Rs 2.6 crore to Sunrisers Hyderabad, who endured a battle with Markram's former franchise Punjab Kings and then Mumbai Indians.
English players struggled to find takers as batter Dawid Malan went unsold at a base price of Rs 1.5 crore. His ODI captain Eoin Morgan, base price Rs 1.5 crore met the same fate; so did Australia batter Marnus Labuschagne, base price Rs 1 crore.
Among other overseas names, New Zealand's Jimmy Neesham (base price Rs 1.5 crore) and England's Chris Jordan (base price Rs 2 crore) failed to attract bidders.
Indian batters Cheteshwar Pujara and Saurabh Tiwary, base price Rs 50 lakh each, found no bidders as well.
Mandeep Singh, the same price, however, was sold to Delhi Capitals for Rs 1.1 crore.
Windies all-rounder Dominic Drakes, base price Rs 75 lakh, was sold to Gujarat Titans for the same amount as Mandeep.
Titans were not done in the morning as they went on a shopping spree with the purchases of Indian all-rounders Jayant Yadav (Rs 1.7 crore) and Vijay Shankar (Rs 1.4 crore) in quick succession.
