17-year-old Yashasvi Jaiswal will play in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the first time after he was bought by Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the IPL 2020 auction for Rs 2.4 crore.
Having been listed at a base price of Rs 20 lakh, Jaiswal attracted an initial bid from Mumbai Indians (MI) before Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Royals bid back and forth. Eventually, the Royals won the bidding war for the young Mumbai batsman.
Jaiswal has been in excellent form for Mumbai in domestic cricket this season, becoming the youngest-ever to score a double hundred in List-A cricket having achieved the feat during a Vijay Hazare Trophy match against Kerala.
He followed it up with a century for India A against India C in the U-19 Challenger Trophy.
Jaiswal is part of India’s U-19 World Cup team, whose captain Priyam Garg was bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) for Rs 1.90 crore at the auction.
IPL is a place where dreams come true: Preity Zinta
The co-owner of Kings XI Punjab, who missed out on him during the bidding, Preity Zinta, lauded Jaiswal’s “inspirational” rags-to-riches story.
As the auction was still underway in Kolkata on Thursday, Preity took to Twitter and wrote, “17 old Yashasvi Jaiswal used to sell pani puris on the streets for a living 2 years ago. Today this talented cricketer is bought by a franchise in the #IPL2020Auction for 2.40 crores. Fantastic & inspirational story #IPL really is a place where dreams come true.”
17 old Yashasvi Jaiswal used to sell pani puris on the streets for a living 2 years ago. Today this talented cricketer is bought by a franchise in the #IPL2020Auction for 2.40 crores. Fantastic & inspirational story 🙏 #IPL really is a place where dreams come true👍 #ting 🏏
— Preity G Zinta (@realpreityzinta) December 19, 2019
Yashasvi moved to Mumbai from Uttar Pradesh when he was just 11 years old.
