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Established international and domestic breakout stars failed to find a franchise for themselves during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction on Monday in Jeddah.
It all started with uncapped Harnoor Singh being picked by the Punjab Kings at his base price of Rs 30 lakh, which was followed by Andre Siddarth going unsold. Rajasthan Royals acted quickly to recruit Jammu and Kashmir's Yudhvir Charak for Rs 35 lakh after brushing away competition from Mumbai Indians. Rishi Dhawan, who has been a popular name in the cash-rich league while featuring for PBKS, this time went unsold. Along with Dhawan, Maharashtra boy Arshin Kulkarni also failed to land a bid for himself. The interest in franchises reignited in the next couple of picks with Ashwani Kumar to MI for Rs 30 lakh. Akash Singh, who previously featured for the Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad this time, switched to Lucknow Super Giants for Rs 30 lakh. Gurjapneet Singh, a 6'3" left-arm seamer, became a Super King for Rs 2.2 crore. He entered the mega auction at Rs 30 lakh, and LSG became the first to bid for Gurjapneet. CSK jumped in for Gurjapneet, who has been a net bowler at the franchise. CSK and LSG were in a tussle for the promising Tamil Nadu seamer. After LSG backed out, Gujarat Titans came in, which was understandable due to Ashish Nehra's love for left-arm seamers. CSK managed to outbid GT for Rs 2.2 crore. GT also ensured Haryana all-rounder Jayant Yadav's homecoming for his base price of Rs 75 lakh. Former Tamil Nadu and current Madhya Pradesh quick Kuldeep Sen saw his bid start by CSK for his base price of Rs 75 lakh. PBKS jumped in to compete with CSK for Kuldeep. PBKS took the lead at Rs 80 lakh and sealed the deal. Coming to the pool of international stars, Sri Lanka opener Pathum Nissanka failed to land a bid at Rs 75 lakh. West Indies opener Brandon King also failed to see a paddle up for him. England quick Gus Atkinson came in asking for bids from Rs 2 crore but found no interest from any franchise. Steven Smith was arguably the biggest name on Monday who went into the list of unsold players. PBKS were expected to make a move from him after he won the Major League Cricket with head coach Ricky Ponting during their time at Washington Freedom. Zimbabwe's seasoned all-rounder Sikandar Raza, who featured for PBKS last season, came in at Rs1.25 crore and went unsold. West Indies premium pacer Alzarri Joseph, who last appeared for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru, entered the auction at Rs 2 crore and went unsold. New Zealand's Mitchell Santner became the latest entry, who moved from CSK to MI. Coming in at the base price of Rs 2 crore, MI started the bidding for NZ's premier white-ball spinner. No other franchise showed interest, which confirmed his switch to Wankhede. Afghanistan's Fazalhaq Farooqi, left-arm swing bowler and powerplay specialist in T20 format became a Royal with RR acquiring for his base price of Rs 2 crore. MI recruited England's left-armer Reece Topley at Rs 75 lakh. MI opened the bidding for Topley, and that turned out to be the final bid for the English seamer. There was no RTM interest from RCB, which confirmed Topley becoming the latest addition to MI's squad. (ANI)
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