5 times when star players went unsold in IPL Auctions

IPL Auctions are often a lot about team compositions and team strategies. Not all players picked are with the intention of making them play in the first XI. There is a lot of talk about backups, injury replacements and many such things. Hence, these things play a role in teams picking certain players in the auctions.

However, there are certain players who don’t need such attention. They bring a different dimension to the side. But there are times even such players are overlooked. In fact, on multiple occasions, star players have gone unsold. They haven’t attracted any attention from the franchises despite doing two-three rounds in the auction.

Hence, here are five such star players who went unsold in IPL auctions over the years

1. Joe Root (2018)

After Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff in 2009, it took time for England cricket to come to the IPL in this decade. However, the likes of Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes had successful stints which helped him improve their game. Thus, in 2018, Joe Root had ambitions to come and play the IPL as well.

After the end of the 2016 World T20, Root played just five T20Is till the start of 2018. Hence, he wanted to play a lot more T20 cricket and was pretty open about it. However, he found no takers in the 2018 auction. Having kept his base price at INR 2 crores, the England Test captain attracted absolutely no attention.

Root was pretty disappointed with the snub but understood that the team dynamics played a part as well. He has a pretty good T20 record. He has amassed 1619 runs at an average of nearly 31 and has a strike-rate of 125.69.