Over the years, Indian Premier League (IPL) has proved to be the pivotal platform for the young emerging cricketers and has produced umpteen such talents. The stage is set for IPL 2022 after the two-day extravagant mega auction which saw franchisees going all over for young Indian players. Ramesh Kumar was one such player, who was roped in by Kolkata Knight Riders for his base price of Rs 20 lakh. Having made the successful bid, the owners present at the KKR auction table looked quite pleased.
The Shahrukh Khan-owned franchise bagged Ramesh’s services during the accelerated round of the bidding on Day 2.
Fans have already started their search to know more about the 23-year-old player who is yet to play professional cricket. However, the fact is Ramesh is a batting star as he has carved out a name for himself in tennis-ball cricket with some of his stunning knocks. He hails from Manasa in Punjab and is also known as ‘Narine Jalalabadiya.’
As soon as Ramesh bagged the deal from KKR, a video of his rollicking knock of 10-ball 50 went viral on YouTube. In the clip, the southpaw can be seen belting sixes for fun in a local tennis-ball match. Meanwhile, it has also been reported that Ramesh, who also bowls left-arm spin, gave trails to KKR and impressed the officials.
Meanwhile, KKR, who retained the likes of Andre Russell, Varun Chakravarthy, Venkatesh Iyer, Sunil Narine, entered the auction with a purse of INR 48 crore. They were determined to retain their core as they reacquired services of Pat Cummins, Nitish Rana, Shivam Mavi and Sheldon Jackson. Shreyas Iyer was KKR’s most-expensive player at the event as they splashed a whooping INR 12.25 crore to get him on board. The batter is all but likely to lead the two-time winners this year.
Final squad of Kolkata Knight Riders: Andre Russell, Varun Chakravarthy, Venkatesh Iyer, Sunil Narine, Pat Cummins, Nitish Rana, Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Mavi, Sheldon Jackson, Ajinkya Rahane, Rinku Singh, Anukul Roy, Rasikh Dar, Baba Indrajith, Chamika Karunaratne, Abhijeet Tomar, Pratham Singh, Ashok Sharma, Sam Billings, Alex Hales, Tim Southee, Ramesh Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Mohammad Nabi, Aman Khan.
Kolkata Knight Riders' picks in IPL mega auction 2022:
Pat Cummins – Rs 7.25 Crore
Shreyas Iyer – Rs 12.25 Crore
Nitish Rana – Rs 8 Crore
Shivam Mavi – Rs 7.25 Crore
Sheldon Jackson – Rs 60 Lakhs
Ajinkya Rahane- Rs 1 crore
Rinku Singh- Rs 55 lakh
Anukul Roy- Rs 20 lakh
Chamika Karunaratne- Rs 50 lakh
Abhijeet Tomar- Rs 40 lakh
Pratham Singh- Rs 20 lakh
Ashok Sharma- Rs 55 lakh
Baba Indrajith- Rs 20 lakh
Rasikh Dar- Rs 20 lakh
Sam Billings- Rs 2 crore
Alex Hales- Rs 1.5 crore
Tim Southee- Rs 1.50 crore
Ramesh Kumar- Rs 20 lakh
Umesh Yadav- Rs 2 crore
Mohammad Nabi- Rs 1 crore
Aman Khan- Rs 20 lakh
