Avesh Khan became the most expensive uncapped player in IPL history at the Mega Auction. Avesh was on a flight when his name was called. The 25-year-old couldn’t stand by and watch as he became the most expensive uncapped player in history, with the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) paying a whopping ten crore for him.
For the T20I leg of the West Indies series, Team India was traveling from Ahmedabad to Kolkata. Avesh’s name was near the end of the first day of the auction in the uncapped category. Avesh began to be concerned about what might be in store for him after they took off on Saturday evening and lost all forms of connectivity.
Avesh Khan joins Lucknow Super Giants
The Lucknow Super Giants were able to secure Avesh Khan‘s services for Rs 10 crore on Day 1 of the IPL Auction, despite his base price of Rs 20 lakhs.
“I was on the flight at that time and I had expected I would get at least 7 crores. But since I was on the flight and couldn’t watch the auction live, I was feeling a bit nervous thinking which team would pick me and for how much. Upon landing when I got to know that Lucknow bought me for 10 crores, I froze for five seconds. But then things became normal, I was like okay,” Avesh Khan said.
Lucknow started the bidding for him, with CSK joining in later, in order to quickly raise the player’s value. Avesh, who had a breakout season with the Delhi Capitals last year, was expected to be in high demand at the Auction, and the two teams made it clear that they weren’t going down without a fight.
Mumbai also joined in, with the price exceeding Rs 4 crore, as Lucknow maintained its lead and Chennai fell behind. Soon after, the value of the deal surpassed Rs 8 crore, and Sunrisers Hyderabad joined the fray. Lucknow, on the other hand, got the last laugh.
“Ishan Kishan and Mohammed Siraj were pulling my leg throughout the flight journey – they were just speculating how much I would go for, which all teams would be interested in me, and all that. Once we landed, the network on my phone was spotty, but then Venkatesh Iyer broke the news to me. Everyone clapped for me on the flight, that was a very special moment. As soon as my network became available, I continuously started receiving calls, WhatsApp messages,” he added.
“I would miss them [Ricky Ponting and Co.] a lot because I had an emotional connect with the Delhi Capitals. After our flight landed in Kolkata, I met Rishabh outside and he held his arms wide open for giving me a hug. He told me, ‘Sorry, le Nahin paye’(sorry we couldn’t buy you). Because, they weren’t left with a huge purse and had players to buy as well. When I watched the auction later, I saw that they did place a final bid for me at 8.75cr, but Lucknow eventually bid the highest. So it was a very emotional moment with Rishabh; we have played Under-19 together, we always sit together after matches, hang out together,” he concluded.
Avesh was a vital cog in Delhi Capitals’ pace attack in the 2021 IPL season, picking 24 wickets in 16 matches at an average of 18.75.
