England Test captain Joe Root, who along with South Africa's Hashim Amla was the only marquee player to go unsold in the Indian Premier League (IPL) Auction, expressed his disappointment over not being picked by any of the eight Indian franchise. According to the dynamic batsman, he "wasn’t going to fit into any one of those [IPL] teams".
“I was disappointed. The reason I wanted to go out there was to play more Twenty20 cricket; it wasn’t to go and earn as much money as possible. I’m not in that position," Root said as quoted by The Guardian.
The 27-year-old Yorkshire batsman has played 25 T20 Internationals for England national team, though the rejection from the Indian cash-rich league caused him huge distress and made him realise that he requires to improve as a T20 player.
"For me, I wasn’t going to fit into any one of those [IPL] teams. There’s not really much you can do. It was disappointing but it’s also very understandable.
"Sides have a clear idea of what they want their makeup of their team to look like and they build around that," he added.
Root believes that even though a good Test home season awaits ahead, an IPL stint would have helped him hon his skills in T20 format.
“You’ve just got to get on with the rest of the cricket I can play. It gives me a really good period to make sure everything is set for the start of the Test season back at home but it would have been really nice to have had the experience and everything that the IPL brings to the table,” he said.
In the two-day auction event, held in Bengaluru in January, Indian fast bowler Jaydev Unadkat became the most expensive pick of the 11th edition of the IPL, starting April 7. Rajasthan Royals bought the pacer for a whopping price of Rs 11.5 crore.
Root's teammate Ben Stokes was the most expensive overseas player in the IPL 2018 Auction as Rajasthan Royals picked him for Rs 12.5 crore. Coincidentally, he was snapped up for a record price of Rs 14.5 crore in the last season of the IPL as well.
