Bengaluru: The Indian Premier League (IPL) has always been known for grooming young players and giving them a platform to showcase their talent.
Youngsters like Shreyas Iyer, Rishab Pant and Washington Sundar are some of the names who got into the Indian team due to some good performances in the IPL.
On Sunday, the 2018 Indian Premier League player auction finally came to an end in Bengaluru. The two-day event saw many stars failed to attract bidders, while youngsters managed to find suitors in the two-day event.
Among some big names, young Under-19 stars also managed to grab contracts for themselves in the auction.
Here’s the list of players, who earned big money in the auction
Mujeeb Zadran
After Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi, another Afghanistan player is ready to bamboozle batsman with his mystery spin.
Mujeeb Zadran who is currently playing in the ICC Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand was sold for a hefty price of Rs 4 crore to Kings XI Punjab, thus becoming the third Afghan player to be bought by a franchise in the auction.
Zadran came into limelight after claiming four wickets in debut match against Ireland in 2017. He helped Afghanistan win their maiden U-19 Asia Cup trophy when they beat Pakistan in the final. He took 20 wickets in the tournament held in Kuala Lumpur and went on to claim 17 wickets against Bangladesh in a bilateral Youth ODI series.
Kamlesh Nagarkoti
The young Indian pacer, who has impressed everyone with his bowling speed became the costliest Under-19 player in the IPL Auction 2018. He was brought by Kolkata Knight Riders for a whopping Rs 3.2 crores. The young pacer’s strength is that he consistently bowls at speeds of 140s.
Nagarkoti has taken 7 wickets so far in the U-19 World Cup so far with best figures of 3/18 against Bangladesh in the quarter-final.
Shubman Gill
The India U-19 vice-captain will don the purple and gold jersey of Kolkata after he was snapped up by KKR for Rs 1.80 crore.
The Punjab lad is the leading run-getter for India in the U-19 World Cup scoring 239 runs.
He was in top form for Punjab in a couple of first-class matches, having played a few instrumental knocks.
Prithvi Shaw
India's Under-19 skipper was signed by Delhi Daredevils (DD) for Rs 1.2 crore during the auction. Prithvi, who is currently playing in Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand, is considered a hot prospect with bright future.
Shaw has been in tremendous touch, scoring 191 runs in the tournament so far and the chance of training under Ricky Ponting will evolve him as a player.
Shivam Mavi
The Delhi pacer was picked up by Kolkata Knight Riders for Rs 3 crore. Mavi along with Kamlesh Nagarkoti came into limelight for his commendable pacing bowling.
He could be the next big cricketer from Uttar Pradesh after Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who also has put up an improved show for Team India over the past few years.
The youngster has so far impressed with his performance in the Under-19 World Cup, picking up 8 wickets at an economy of 4.09 runs per over.
Playing for KKR will be a great opportunity for the youngster as he will rub shoulders with a few international stars.
Anukul Roy
Another India U-19 star, Anukul Roy was rewarded for his performance in the ongoing Under-19 World Cup, when was also snapped up by Mumbai Indians at his base price of Rs 20 lakh.
The all-rounder is currently having an outstanding U-19 tournament in which he has picked up 11 wickets in 4 matches. The Jharkhand-born player is known for his wicket-taking abilities and displayed that with a four-wicket haul against England U-19 in a Youth ODI in Canterbury last year.
Anukul was adjudged Man of the Match in India’s recent encounter with Papua New Guinea, where his spell of 5-14 helped India bowl out the minnows for 64, which in turn the boys in Blue chased comfortably.
