Cricket
IPL 2022 Auction Disruptive Bids: Tendulkar's son has Ashish Nehra to thank, Sangakkara conspires against Mumbai Indians
Not all bids at the IPL 2022 auction were with the intention of buying players. There were some bids made just to make things tougher for other teams.
DC's Kiran Gandhi (left) and GT's Ashish Nehra (right) were among those who made things hard for Mumbai Indians at the IPL 2022 auction. (BCCI)
Arjun Tendulkar will receive an extra Rs 10 lakhs because Ashish Nehra thought it would be a bit of fun to rain in on Mumbai Indians' parade at the IPL 2022 auction on Sunday.
This was one of many disruptive bids placed by the 10 teams over the two days. A total of Rs 5.52 billion was spent on 204 players by the 10 teams, but not all bids were made with the intention of buying players. There were some bids made just to make things tougher for other teams.
Like when Kumar Sangakkara conspired with Muttiah Muralitharan against their former Sri Lanka teammate Mahela Jayawardene as Mumbai Indians went all in for Jofra Archer.
Sangakkara's Rajasthan Royals had left the race for Archer's signature early on, but Sangakkara gestured with his eyes to the other auction tables asking them to go higher to inconvenience Mumbai Indians. Eventually, Archer went to MI for Rs 8 crore. Sangakkara's help might have added a few digits to Archer's IPL salary.
Mumbai Indians had another moment of irritation late into the auction, as Gujarat Lions upped their bid for Arjun Tendulkar to Rs 25 L. This was followed by a smile from Ashish Nehra and Gary Kirsten towards the MI table, as the Ambanis wore a confused look momentarily.
Tendulkar was then snapped up for Rs 30 L by MI.
But while teams like Gujarat Titans and Rajasthan Royals tried their best to inflate other teams' bids, the champion of this game over the two days has to be Delhi Capitals, led by Kiran Gandhi.
Not only did DC manage to get some great deals for cheap like David Warner for Rs 6.25 Cr, but they also managed to decrease other teams' purses by bidding on players other teams had targeted.
There was some confusion on one such bidding war, for Khaleel Ahmed, however. DC's internal conversation seemed to suggest they would bid for him till Rs 5 Cr, keeping pace with MI, who seemed to raise his bid to Rs 5.25 Cr.
However, the player was sold to DC for Rs 5 Cr. MI did not raise any objection and DC were happy to have acquired an Indian pacer.
