Five worst bids in the Indian T20 League
Jaydev Unadkat (Photo credit should read ISHARA S. KODIKARA/AFP via Getty Images)
The Indian T20 League (ITL) pays a lot of money to the players in comparison to other T20 leagues in the world. One of the main reasons is that the league follows a player auction system. The heavy bidding depends on the performance in domestic cricket or his national side. If a player is retained, the salary is still a lot compared to other leagues.
However, the flip side of the auction system is that a player might get more than they deserve. In this article, we will discuss five players who got more money than they deserved.
Five worst bids of the Indian T20 League
Andrew Flintoff
He was the most expensive buy of the season second of the ITL in 2009. He was bought by Chennai for 7.55 crores. The all-rounder had a forgettable ITL as he played only three games before flying back home to nurse his knee injury. His career was always marred by injuries. Flintoff had the best time of his career from 2002 to 2005. Since Ashes 2005, he played the game carrying an injury and was never a certainty in the team.
Shane Watson
This is a surprise addition in the list. Watson was one of the most sought players in franchise cricket. However, his services were acquired Bangalore side in 2016, who didn’t need another opening batter in the squad. The likes of Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli had become a formidable opening pair for the team in 2015. Also, they had the services of Stuart Binny and David Wiese as all-rounders which made Watson’s place in the team questionable. The Australian all-rounder was acquired for 9.5 crores INR. He could have been utilised well if he was opening the batting in the team.
Jaydev Unadkat
The left-arm medium-fast bowler was bought by Rajasthan in 2018 for 11.50 crores INR after his impressive performances with the Pune Supergiants year before. However, things went down for him as he couldn’t live up to the expectations. He later admitted that the price had impacted his mental space.
Chris Morris
The former South Africa all-rounder became the most expensive buy in the history of the ITL last year with 16.25 crores. Previously, Yuvraj Singh held the record for the most expensive buy when he was bought by Delhi for 16 crores. Meanwhile, Morris had played no competitive cricket between ITL 2020 and 2021. He did fine in the first leg but his performances were poor in the UAE leg.
Younis Khan
He is the first player to score 10,000 runs for Pakistan in Test cricket. Under his leadership, the Men In Green won the 20-20 World Cup in 2009. However, his batting in limited-overs was under heavy scrutiny. He averaged 31.24 and 22.10 in ODIs and T20Is. He was signed by Rajasthan for 90.36 lakh INR, although he only played one game in the tournament.
