Three most surprising picks in the IPL 2020 auction

The IPL auction for the 13th edition of the league unfolded in Kolkata on Thursday as a total of 338 players went under the hammer for only 73 spots which were up for grabs across all the eight teams. However, only three teams in Kings XI Punjab, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals managed to complete their full squads of 25 players, while all the teams opted for the maximum quota of 8 overseas spots. 

The auction for IPL 2020 threw a lot of surprises as some of the big names failed to entertain any bids, while some of the lesser known names caught the eye to find bidders at the auction table. 

Here we take a look at 3 such players who were the surprise pick in the auction:

1. Varun Chakravarthy 

The 28-year old Tamil Nadu leg spinner, Varun Chakravarthy, who was the talk of the town in last year's IPL auction after being bought by Kings XI Punjab for a whopping price of INR 8.4 crores, was expected to go unsold in this year's auction. 

However, in a surprising bidding war between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), the latter was able to acquire the services of the spin sensation for an auction price of 4 crores. Varun, who was ruled out of IPL after making a solitary appearance for Kings XI, hasn't played any cricket at the recognized level thereafter, and hence his inclusion was a bit surprising. 

2. Piyush Chawla

The veteran leg-spinner, Piyush Chawla was another pick who took the IPL auction by storm after Chennai Super Kings (CSK) showed keen interest in buying the 30-year old. Chawla, who was released by KKR ahead of the auction, was bought by the Yellow Army for INR 6.75 crores. The move didn't reason well, especially when Chennai already have the luxury of three quality spinners in Ravindra Jadeja, Imran Tahir, and Harbhajan Singh. It will be interesting to see whether Piyush makes the starting XI or will he warm the benches for a majority of the next season, However, he won't mind being paid such a hefty amount for carrying drinks as the 12th man.

3. Nathan Coulter-Nile

Nathan Coulter-Nile, the Australian pacer who was part of the World Cup squad, hasn't been a regular feature in the Australia's limited-overs setup. A career which has often been halted by injuries, has sen him on the sidelines for a majority of his international career. As a result, Coulter-Nile's inclusion in the IPL auction didn't support enough logic. 

He was bought by Mumbai Indians (MI) as their highest bid of the season at an auction price of INR 8.5 crores. The defending champions already boast of the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Lasith Malinga, Mitchell McClenaghan, along with their latest recruit Trent Boult. It is highly unlikely that Coulter-Nile will make the first-choice XI and might be a back-up option to any of the pacers in the team. 

Image Credits: The Indian Express