Over the years, we have seen numerous rags to riches stories in IPL Auctions. Young players being bought for millions is not unnatural sight in the auctions and we saw a number of similar instances in IPL 2022 Mega Auction as well.
While most spectators were busy waiting for the marquee players and the well established International players, some franchises played it smart and targetted uncapped players who have performed well in the previous editions of the Indian Premier League and in domestic cricket.
It resulted in many uncapped players earning big bucks in IPL 2022 Mega Auction. In this article, we shall take a look at the Top 5 highest-earning uncapped players in IPL 2022 Mega Auction.
5. Shivam Mavi (Kolkata Knight Riders – 7.25 Crores) – Shivam Mavi shot to fame due to his exceptional performance in the 2018 U19 World Cup. He was in the same team as Prithvi Shaw and Shubman Gill that year. Kolkata bought him in the IPL auction that same year seeing his all-round skills and he proved to be a great signing.
In the first few seasons, Shivam Mavi had a much more key role in the KKR squad but sadly due to a number of injuries, he missed his place in the playing XI last season. In IPL 2021 he played very few matches but he performed extraordinarily in those matches.
Although Shivam Mavi is yet to portray his batting skills in IPL, he is an exceptional fast bowler and can prove his potential in IPL 2022 as a regular player of Kolkata Knight Riders.
As KKR do not have such a strong squad, Shivam Mavi will get more opportunities to prove himself as he will have much more responsibilities on his shoulders.
Shivam Mavi picked up 11 wickets in 9 matches in IPL 2022 and in overall, he has 25 wickets in 26 matches. Royal Challengers Bangalore also seemed interested in buying him but ultimately KKR won the bidding war and bought him for 7.25 Crores)
4. Rahul Tripathi (Sunrisers Hyderabad – 8.50 Crores) – Rahul Tripathi too was a part of the Kolkata Knight Riders squad in IPL 2022. He was was one of their highest run-scorers and if it weren’t for him, KKR could not have qualified to the final of IPL 2021.
Rahul Tripathi scored 397 runs in 17 matches in IPL 2021. He had the highest score of 74* and an overall average of 140.28. Overall, he has scored 1385 runs in 62 matches and is very underrated in the Indian cricket scenario.
After a very rigorous bidding war between many IPL franchises, Sunrisers ended up buying Rahul Tripathi for 8.5 Crores. He is a great top-order addition to the already very strong Sunrisers Hyderabad squad.
Rahul Tripathi is over 30 years old and is very active in the domestic cricket circuit. He plays for Maharashtra currently. Even in the recently played Vijay Hazare Trophy, his performance was commendable. His outstanding 99 against Kerala and 56 against Madhya Pradesh show how responsible he is as a batsman. His signing can be game-changing for Sunrisers Hyderabad this season.
It will be interesting to see whether SRH let him open in IPL 2022. We know that he can play as an opener as, during his days at Pune Super Giants, he used to open for them.
3. Rahul Tewatia (Gujarat Titans – 9 Crores) – Rahul Tewatia shot to fame in the last two seasons of the Indian Premier League while playing for Rajasthan Royals. Although he made his IPL debut in IPL 2014, it was not until 2020 that he made his mark.
In IPL 2020, Tewatia showed that he could be a great finisher as well. On 27th September 2020, Rajasthan Royals took on Punjab Kings in perhaps the best match of the season. Batting first, Punjab Kings scored 223 runs and everyone thought that they will easily win the match. However, RR proved them wrong. They chased down the total with 3 balls left and shocked everyone.
Rahul Tewatia has a big role to play in that victory. He scored 53 runs in 31 balls to win the match for Rajasthan.
In the span of the next two years, Rahul Tewatia showed that he excels in spin bowling as well. Sadly, his performance dropped down a lot in IPL 2021 and thus RR decided not to retain him.
However, all the other teams were very eager to sign him in IPL 2022 Mega Auction. Rahul Tewatia ended up going to Gujarat Kings for a whopping 9 Crores price tag.
2. Shahrukh Khan (Punjab Kings – 9 Crores) – Shahrukh Khan is perhaps the best uncapped Indian finisher right now. His heroics in the Vijay Hazare Trophy won the match for Tamil Nadu.
In the thrilling final between Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh, Shahrukh Khan scored 42 runs in just 21 deliveries to pull Tamil Nadu out of a tricky situation. Even then, they needed 5 runs to win off the last delivery and he did the unthinkable by hitting a massive six off the last delivery.
He shot to fame after that knock and was praised by many ex-cricketers including MS Dhoni.
Shahrukh Khan played for PBKS last season and had some great knocks last season as well. However, he did not want to be retained for just 4 crores (uncapped player) and thus he decided to head on to the auction.
He was then rebought by Punjab Kings by a much higher price tag of 9 Crores.
1. Avesh Khan (Lucknow Super Giants – 10 Crores) – Avesh Khan was undoubtedly one of the best bowlers in IPL 2021. He was the second-highest wicket-taker after Harshal Patel with 24 wickets in 16 matches. It was the 26-year old’s breakthrough season.
Avesh Khan has had a great domestic season as well. Playing for Madhya Pradesh, he was phenomenal in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. His Spells against Bihar (3/6) and Railways (3/23) showed what a fantastic form he is currently in.
The form Avesh Khan is, he will soon make it to the Indian Senior team as well.
There was a huge bidding war between all the franchises for Avesh Khan but Lucknow Super Giants seemed to be the most interested right from the beginning. LSG mentor Gautam Gambhir has always spoken very highly about Gautam Gambhir and he thus wanted him at Lucknow at any cost. They ended up buying him for a record-breaking 10 Crores.
It will now be interesting to see whether he can justify his price tag in IPL 2022 with his performance.
Also Read:- IPL 2022 Mega Auction LIVE: List of Players, Prices, Teams and All Updates