The day of the IPL auction is arguably the biggest day in the life of a domestic cricketer who aspires to rub shoulders with some of the biggest stars of international cricket and hence it brings a lot of nerves and anxiety with itself. Getting picked by a franchise at an IPL auction provides immense pleasure and gratification as it does not happen to many.
Chhattisgarh's Shashank Singh was fortunate when he was bought by Punjab Kings (PBKS) at his base price of Rs 20 lakhs but before he could savour the moment, a drama unfolded which almost pushed his chances of playing in the IPL 2024 season into jeopardy.
The PBKS management requested the auctioneer Mallika Sagar for the provision to let go of him as they claimed that he was not the Shashank Singh whom they were after. However, Mallika denied their persistent requests and Shashank was drafted into the squad.
After the conclusion of the auction, Punjab put out a statement saying that they had bought the Shashank whom they were in pursuit of and the confusion had originated because of the presence of two Shashank Singhs on the auction list.
The whole ordeal could have easily worn the toughest of minds down but not Shashank as the 32-year-old took it sportingly and extended his gratitude to Punjab for trusting him with the opportunity.
Shashank's first game of the season for Punjab turned out to be something to forget as he failed to trouble the scorers and got out for a duck. However, Shashank didn't let the early failure get to his head and went on to remain unbeaten in the next four games that he played with scores of 21*, 9*, 61* and 46*.
His knock of 61* came against the runners-up of the previous edition. While playing at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Shashank played a jaw-dropping knock off just 29 balls and helped Punjab win an unwinnable.
Shashank's knock came at a strike rate of 210.34 with the help of six fours and four sixes. He was awarded the Player of the Match (POTM) for his stupendous knock as Punjab won their second game of the season.
Though Shashank has not been able to create a similar impact since then, there are still plenty of games left in the season for Punjab and therefore Shashank still has enough time on his hands to make hay while the sun shines.
