Eight members of India’s Under-19 World Cup 2022-winning squad will miss a chance to make millions in the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 mega auction. The reason behind them not being eligible for the auction is that none of them have played at least one List A or First-Class game or turned 19.
The eight players who won’t get a chance to play in the 10-team premier T20 tournament are Dinesh Bana, vice-captain Shaik Rasheed, left-arm pacer Ravi Kumar, all-rounder Nishant Sindhu, opener Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Manav Parakh and Gaurav Sangwan.
“It’s unfortunate that these boys weren’t able to play List A tournaments as U-19 and List A games were played simultaneously. One season, there was no cricket at all due to the pandemic. I feel the BCCI should consider this as a special case and the players should not lose out because of this (stipulation). The team has done really well and they should not be deprived of the opportunity,” veteran BCCI administrator Ratnakar Shetty said.
Few of these ineligible players were almost bound to get an IPL contract after their performance in the Caribbean nation. The wicketkeeper-batter Bana could have had franchises bidding for him as he impressed everyone with his six-hitting skills with timely cameos. Ravi would have also made it to few franchises’ list as left-arm pacers add more variety to a bowling attack.
Rasheed missed a couple of matches after testing positive for Covid-19 but scored consecutive half-centuries in the semi-final followed by the final. On the other hand, Sindhu contributed with both bat and ball. In the final, he held his nerves and remained unbeaten for 50 guiding India to victory against England.
On the other hand, players like all-rounder Raj Bawa, skipper Yash Dhull, all-rounder Rajvardhan Hangargekar are set to go for big bucks in the auction where a total of 590 players will go under the hammer. Out of the current lot, Hangargekar is the only one who has a base price of Rs 30 lakh. The all-rounder is a new-ball bowler and can contribute with crucial cameos in the slog overs.
