Star all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga of Sri Lanka unexpectedly joined Sunrisers Hyderabad for his base price of Rs 1.5 crore, while rookie Rachin Ravindra of New Zealand was picked up at a discount by the defending champion Chennai Super Kings at the Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai.
Aside from Steve Smith, one of the unexpected events was Hasaranga asking for his basic fee. Hasaranga, a highly sought-after player in the T20 league circuit, spent the previous two seasons as a spinner with Royal Challengers Bangalore. He has claimed 91 wickets and amassed 533 runs at an average of 14.02 in 58 Twenty20 Internationals for Sri Lanka. He has amassed 1,760 runs at an average of over 18 in 157 Twenty20 Internationals, with seven fifties and 216 wickets taken.
Rachin was pursued by the Punjab Kings, Delhi Capitals, and Chennai Super Kings, but the all-round player was signed by the reigning champions for a whopping Rs 1.8 crore.
Rachin was one of the main heroes of the just finished ICC Cricket World Cup 2023. He finished with 578 runs in 10 matches at an average of 106.44, including three hundreds and two fifties, placing him as the fourth-highest run scorer. He hasn’t shown himself in Twenty20 Internationals, though, as he has only amassed 145 runs at an average of 13.18 in 16 innings while taking 11 wickets.
In the following five minutes, Chennai scored another coup when they acquired Shardul Thakur for Rs 4 crore. The all-round Indian bowler can put in some valuable runs with the bat and breaks partnerships. In Twenty20 Internationals, he has taken 33 wickets for India and amassed 69 runs with a strike rate of over 181 and an average of 22,000 across six innings. Even though he had a poor season the previous year, he nevertheless led KKR to victories in several games.
Azmatullah Omarzai, an all-round player from Afghanistan, joined Gujarat Titans for a base fee of Rs 50 lakh.