Bengaluru, Feb 13 (IANS): Five-time champions Mumbai Indians spent big money on buying Jofra Archer, despite his availability concerns, and Singapore big-hitting finisher Tim David in the accelerated round of Day two in 2022 IPL Mega Auction.
It was a round where Mumbai began to make up for a slow start to the day with some aggressive fights for their picks in sight.
Despite the fact that Archer is unlikely to play in the upcoming IPL season due to his recovery from elbow injury, it didn't stop Mumbai and Rajasthan in trying to buy him with all guns blazing. Hyderabad even joined in the bid as well but Mumbai were persistent in getting Archer at any cost and got him for INR 8 crore despite the pacer not playing any competitive cricket in the last ten months.
Mumbai were then engaged in a fervent bid for David, a globe-trotting T20 finisher, alongside Lucknow, Kolkata, Delhi and Punjab. Eventually, Mumbai got him on board for a whopping INR 8.25 crore. Mumbai further picked Australia all-rounder Daniel Sams for INR 2.6 crore followed by England's left-arm pacer Tymal Mills for INR 1.5 crore.
There was big money spent for the West Indies all-rounders too. Lucknow and Delhi followed by Chennai were locked in a three-way battle for West Indies all-rounder Rovman Powell. From a base price of INR 75L, Delhi won the deal for INR 2.8 crore.
His team-mate, pace all-rounder Romario Shepherd attracted bids from Lucknow and Mumbai. Lucknow pulled out after INR 2.4 crore and then Chennai came in. Mumbai backed out, Hyderabad jumped in to compete against Chennai. When Chennai backed out, Rajasthan came but Hyderabad took Shepherd for INR 7.75 crore.
New Zealand opener Finn Allen was the first name to go under the hammer in the accelerated round. Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rajasthan Royals battled for his services before Bangalore, his previous franchise, took him for INR 80L. His team-mate, left-handed batter Devon Conway was snapped by Chennai Super Kings at his base price of INR 1 crore. South Africa all-rounder Dwaine Pretorius was picked by Chennai for INR 50L.
The defending champions then picked New Zealand pacer Adam Milne for INR 1.9 crore, his country-mate and left-arm spin all-rounder Mitchell Santner for INR 1.90 crore and Odisha pacer Subhranshu Senapati for INR 20L. Bangalore picked Sherfane Rutherford for INR 1 crores and left-arm pacer Jason Behrendorff for INR 75L.
West Indies pacer Obed Mccoy was picked by Rajasthan for INR 75L. Hyderabad and Punjab were in the fray for all-rounder Rishi Dhawan but went to Punjab for INR 55L. Pravin Dubey was brought back by Delhi Capitals for INR 50L while Saurashtra's Prerak Mankad was picked by Punjab for INR 20L and Suyash Prabhudesai was taken by Bangalore for INR 30L.
Punjab and Kolkata were in a battle to get Himachal Pradesh pacer Vaibhav Arora. But it was Punjab who sealed the deal for INR 2 crore. Mumbai's leg-spinner Prashant Solanki attracted bids from Chennai and Rajasthan. But Chennai won the bid for him at INR 1.2 crore.
Maharashtra's left-arm pacer Mukesh Choudhary was picked by Chennai for INR 20L, Jammu and Kashmir's Rasikh Dar was bought by Kolkata for INR 20L. Uttar Pradesh pacer Mohsin Khan was bought by Lucknow for INR 20L while Hyderabad's Chama Milind went to Bangalore for INR 25L.
Unsold players from the accelerated round were Alex Hales, Evin Lewis, Karun Nair, Rassie van der Dussen, Charith Asalanka, George Garton, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ben McDermott, Glenn Phillips, Nathan Ellis, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Siddharth Kaul, Andrew Tye, Reece Topley, Tanmay Agarwal, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Sameer Rizvi, Atharva Ankolekar, Apoorv Wankhade, Ramandeep Singh, B Sai Sudharsan, Atharva Taide, Prashant Chopra, Dhruv Jurel, Aryan Juyal, Ben Dwarshuis, Pankaj Jaswal, Mayank Yadav, Tejas Baroka and Yuvraj Chudasama.