The much-awaited and first-ever Lanka Premier League (LPL) players’ auction ended in a grand manner, with as many as 95 players being bought in the maiden event. Among all, Dilshan Madushanka emerged as the costliest buy. The 22-year-old was bought by the Jaffna Kings franchise for a whopping $92,000.
Apart from the Sri Lankan cricketers, players from other nations were also in high demand in the LPL Auction 2023. While Pakistani cricketers Babar Azam, Naseem Shah and Fakhar Zaman were already signed by the teams before the auction, the likes of David Miller and Shakib al Hasan also attracted successful bids at the event. Meanwhile, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Haris and Asif Ali were the few other names from Pakistan who found themselves buyers in the bidding process.
It is worth mentioning that there was one Indian player in the auction pool as well, and that was Suresh Raina. Raina was said to have listed himself at a base price of $50,000 in the event. However, despite being flashed on the screen, the left-handed batter’s name was not called out by the auctioneer Charu Sharma.
Suresh Raina name is shown in the list but didn't call his name.why??#lpl#raina pic.twitter.com/z3A26kwten
— Mr Introverť (@S20122001) June 14, 2023
Although Raina did not confirm about registering for the event and has not made any official statement on his name being ignored either, fans were left thinking that if he pulled his name out at the last moment or if it was the mistake at the auctioneer’s end.
Raina was most recently seen commentating at the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023, from where he retired in 2022. The India veteran cricketer was one of the most destructive batters in the league and finished his IPL career with 5528 runs comprising one century and 39 fifties.
The 36-year-old former Uttar Pradesh all-rounder also had an impressive international career in the shortest format. He represented India in 78 T20Is and scored 1604 runs at a strike rate of 134.79.
Coming back to the LPL 2023, the third edition of the tournament will commence from July 31, and the teams will still have the option to add one wild-card player to their squads ahead of the marquee event.
