IPL Auction 2022: 3 times a team retained an uncapped player before a mega auction

IPL Auction 2022 will happen in the coming weeks. The date for the mega auction has not yet been revealed, but the event will reportedly happen around January 2022.

The upcoming IPL Auction will be the first ten-team auction since 2011. The 2011 IPL Auction was also a mega auction, where ten teams participated, and the existing eight teams had permission to retain only a maximum of four players each.

The same rules will likely apply to IPL Auction 2022. Fans should note that although the upcoming auction will be the second one to have ten teams, it will not be the second mega auction in IPL history. There have been three mega auctions in the past. Apart from 2011, a mega auction happened in 2014 and 2018 as well.

Usually, teams only retain international stars ahead of the big auctions, but there have been three occasions when a team decided to keep the services of an uncapped player ahead of a mega auction.

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#1 Manan Vohra - Punjab Kings, IPL Auction 2014

Manan Vohra was one of two uncapped batters retained by IPL teams ahead of the 2014 mega auction. The Punjab Kings (then known as Kings XI Punjab) retained only two players from their IPL 2013 squad.

South African star David Miller was the first player. He received a deal worth ₹12.5 crore, and Manan Vohra was the second player. Since Manan was an uncapped player, he received ₹4 crore as salary.

Vohra scored 324 runs in eight innings of IPL 2014. However, his performance dipped after that season. Punjab released him after the 2017 season, and since then, the right-handed batter has represented the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Rajasthan Royals.

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#2 Sanju Samson - Rajasthan Royals, IPL Auction 2014

Sanju Samson made his IPL debut for the Rajasthan Royals in 2013 and ended the season with 206 runs in ten innings. The Kerala star impressed fans and owners with his batting skills and received a contract worth ₹4 crore ahead of IPL Mega Auction 2014.

Samson was uncapped when RR retained him. One year later, the wicket-keeper batter made his international debut for Team India against Zimbabwe. Samson has been one of the best players for the Royals. He led the team in IPL 2021 and is likely to be retained by the franchise ahead of IPL Auction 2022.

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#3 Sarfaraz Khan - Royal Challengers Bangalore, IPL Auction 2018

Sarfaraz Khan came into the limelight during IPL 2015. He played some incredible shots for the Royal Challengers Bangalore and emerged as the new match-winner for the Bangalore-based franchise.

Khan continued his good form in 2016 but missed the 2017 season due to an injury. Royal Challengers Bangalore showed a lot of faith in Khan and retained the uncapped star ahead of IPL Mega Auction 2018 along with AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli.

However, Sarfaraz could not perform well. He scored 51 runs in six innings at an average of 10.20. RCB released him ahead of IPL 2019. Soon, the Punjab Kings signed the right-handed batter.