India’s Under-19 World Cup 2022 hero Raj Bawa has been roped in by Punjab Kings (PBKS) for Rs 2 crore. The young all-rounder had Mumbai Indians (MI) and PBKS engage in a mini-bidding war on second day of the auction.
World record holder Raj
The right-arm pacer helped India dominate England in the final of the U-19 World Cup final with a five-wicket haul. With a sensational bowling performance, he became the only Indian to take a fifer in the final of an ICC tournament. He also broke the 16-year-old record of Pakistan’s Anwar Ali by registering the best bowling figures in an ICC U-19 World Cup final, Ali took four wickets for 35 runs in the 2006 edition of the tournament.
Raj's grandfather is an Olympic gold medallist
Raj's grandfather Trilochan Bawa was a member of the Indian hockey team that won the gold medal at the 1948 London Olympics, while Raj's father Sukhwinder Singh tried his hand at both cricket and hockey. Not only this, Raj's father is also the childhood coach of former India star batter Yuvraj Singh. Raj also considers Yuvraj as his idol and wears the jersey number 12. After creating ripples in domestic cricket in his age group, Raj was selected in the Under-19 World Cup team.
Raj’s numbers
The Himachal Pradesh-born cricketer scored 252 runs from six games in the mega event at an average of 63 including one century against Uganda.
In the bowling department, he scalped nine wickets in the tournament including the fifer in the final.
Other major U-19 picks
Skipper Yash Dhull was picked by Delhi Capitals (DC) for Rs 50 lakh. Another all-rounder who went past the crore-mark turned out to be an all-rounder. Hard-hitting batter and new-ball bowler, Rajvardhan Hagargekar for Rs 1.5 crore. Earlier on the first day, MI roped in South African batting prodigy Dewald Brevis for Rs 3 crore.
