IPL auction: 3 famous IPL players you might not know once went unsold

The IPL auction for the 2020 edition of the league will take place in Kolkata later this month. A maximum of 73 players will get IPL contracts, as there are only 73 vacant slots in the squads of the eight teams taking part in the auction.

A number of players go unsold in the IPL auction every year. Some of them are actually good players, but the franchises don’t show any interest in them because they are not the biggest of stars at the international level.

The IPL franchises generally keep an eye on the foreign players who are performing well in international cricket. Rarely does a franchise pick a foreign player out of the box based on his performance in the domestic circuit.

It has been seen over the years that some of the players who were once unsold in the IPL auction later went on to make a name for themselves, both in international cricket as well as in the IPL. Here are three famous IPL players who you probably didn’t know once went unsold.

#3 Steve Smith

Steve Smith

Former Australian captain Steve Smith, who is one of the best batsmen in the world at the moment across all formats of the game, found no bidders in the IPL auction of 2012.

Smith, however, got to play the tournament later that season as his compatriot Mitchell Marsh got injured and Pune Warriors India wanted a replacement.

Also see – BPL Schedule

Although Smith couldn’t do much for the Pune Warriors India, he had a great time with another Pune franchise - the Rising Pune Supergiant. Smith captained RPS to the final of the IPL in 2017 where they lost the final by just one run.

Aside from his fantastic captaincy, Smith was also the leading run-scorer for RPS as he slammed 472 runs in 15 games at an average close to 40.

The 30-year old is currently the captain of the Rajasthan Royals. He has scored over 2000 runs in the IPL including one century, which came against against Gujarat Lions in the 2016 edition.

#2 Chris Gayle

Chris Gayle - RCB

Out of all the foreign players that have played in the IPL so far, only David Warner has scored more runs than Chris Gayle. But surprisingly, even Gayle went unsold in the IPL auction of 2011.

That said, it wasn't a case of the franchises being unaware of Gayle's credentials; it was just that his international form was poor at the time.

The veteran had been struggling for runs in international cricket for a while, and the franchises probably thought it was not worth having him in the squad. Gayle was, however, signed by the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the middle of the 2011 season as an injury replacement.

And he showed what a big mistake it was on the part of the franchises to not bid for him in the first place.

Coming in the middle of the season, Gayle still scored more than 600 runs at an average of 67.55 and a strike rate of 183.33. The Jamaican southpaw propelled RCB to the final that year, where they lost to Chennai Super Kings.

#1 Kieron Pollard

Kieron Pollard

Very few people know that the current West Indies white-ball captain and Mumbai Indians legend Kieron Pollard had actually gone unsold in the 2009 IPL auction. The franchises didn’t have a lot of information about Pollard and nobody opted to go for him.

But Pollard caught everyone’s eye that same year while playing for Trinidad and Tobago in the Champions League T20. The right-hander smashed 54 runs off just 18 balls against New South Wales in Hyderabad to announce his arrival on the big stage.

When the IPL auction took place in 2010, Pollard was suddenly the centre of attraction as many franchises placed bids for him. But it was eventually Mumbai Indians who managed to secure the services of the Trinidadian at a grand price of US$750,000.

There has been no looking back for Pollard since. He has played 148 games for the Mumbai Indians in the last 9 years, scoring 2755 runs at a strike rate of 146.78 - and winning four league titles in the process as well.