IPL Auction 2019: 6 players who shockingly got picked

Auction for the 2019 IPL campaign is done and dusted. Franchises engaged in an intense off-field battle on Tuesday to sign players for the next IPL campaign. The IPL auction 2019 saw as many as 351 players going under the hammer to fill the 70 available slots.

As expected, players like Sam Curran, Shimron Hetmyer, Jaydev Unadkat, Axar Patel, and Varun Chakravarthy were bought for a lot of money. Also, the auction witnessed some unexpected buys. Few of the players who went unsold in the 2018 auction were bought this time around.

Here we will take a look at 6 players who shockingly got picked when everyone expected them to go unsold.

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#6 Sherfane Rutherford (Delhi Capitals)

Sherfane Rutherford

The 20-year-old Guyanese batsman was picked up by the Delhi Capitals for INR 2 crores. Rutherford has played only eight T20s and relatively a newbie to top-flight cricket. Yet, Delhi Capitals were happy in investing in the Windies youngster.

Rutherford has played some gutsy knock for Guyana Amazon Warriors in the Carribean Premier League. He was also brilliant in the recently concluded T10 League.

#5 Ashton Turner (Rajasthan Royals)

Ashton Turner

Ashton Turner is an off-spinning all-rounder and a lower order hitter who plays for Perth Scorchers in the BBL. Turner has never played international cricket and is still a raw talent.

The Western Australian attracted a bargain bid of INR 15 lakhs from the Rajasthan Royals towards the fag end of the auction. Considering the fact that so many quality all-rounders went unsold, Turner should consider himself lucky to get an IPL contract.

#4 Arnich Nortje (Kolkata Knight Riders)

Arnich Nortje

Arnich Nortje was a surprising buy that Knight Riders pulled off during the auction. Nortje has never been a part of the South African national team and is a relatively an unknown quantity to may Indian fans. An uncapped overseas player is not an attraction during most IPL auctions but surprisingly, Nortje found an IPL team in 2019.

#3 Harry Gurney (Kolkata Knight Riders)

Harry Gurney

Harry Gurney is a left-arm seamer from Nottinghamshire who has made sporadic appearances in the England team but never really cemented his place. The left-arm seamer was astonishingly bagged by the Kolkata Knight Riders at his base price of INR 75 lakhs.

Gurney is not even in the scheme of things for England in any format at the moment and KKR's decision to include Gurney in their line-up certainly must have left their fans wondering about their intentions.

#2 Liam Livingstone (Rajasthan Royals)

Liam Livingstone

Liam Livingstone is another Englishman who has surprisingly found an IPL contract of INR 50 lakhs. Livingstone will represent Rajasthan Royals and will play alongside his fellow teammates, Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler. He has very little experience of playing in the sub-continent conditions and hasn't been a regular in the national side either. It will be interesting to see how Livingstone perform on his first major tournament outside England.

#1 Ishant Sharma (Delhi Capitals)

Ishant Sharma

Ishant Sharma is back to the cash-rich Indian Premier League, this time for his home-based team Delhi Capitals. Having played for several franchises in the past, it will be the first time that Ishant will be representing his home side in the IPL.

Bowling in the T20 format does not come to Ishant naturally. He has been extremely inept bowling at the death and has a tendency to leak a lot of runs.

Ishant's signing definitely made Delhi fans rub their eyes. Also, to get a bid in the IPL after a break of one season and not having any exceptional ODI or T20I performances to speak for is indeed surprising.