Top 5 Overseas Players who went unsold at Lanka Premier League Auction 2023

The maiden Lanka Premier League (LPL) auction took place successfully at the Shangri-La Hotel in Colombo on June 14. At the blockbuster business event, Dilshan Madushanka got signed up for $92000 by Jaffna Kings and emerged as the most expensive player.

Along with him, other Sri Lankan players such as Charith Asalanka ($80000), Binura Fernando ($76000), and Dhananjaya de Silva ($76000) also got a hefty amount and made it to the list of most expensive players at the auction.

Among overseas players, Chad Bowes became the most expensive buy at $58000. The amazing auction brought cheers to the faces of these players while for some veterans, the event didn’t go well as they failed to find buyers and broke into the list of unsold players. Noting the experience and calibre of these old hands, it could be said that these players could’ve been perfect additions to any squad but at the end of the day, their records failed to attract bids.

Here are the top five overseas players who went unsold at the LPL 2023 auction

5. Rassie van der Dussen

South Africa batter Rassie van der Dussen failed to get picked up at the LPL 2023 auction, despite his huge experience in T20 Internationals and domestic T20 cricket. However, his performance in T20Is is not at all consistent for his national team South Africa. So far, in his T20I career, Dussen has scored 1044 runs in 37 innings of 41 T20Is at an underwhelming strike rate of 128.71. 

This year, Islamabad United included him in their squad due to Moeen Ali's unavailability in the competition. In the absence of England's star player, Dussen scored only 148 runs in six matches for Islamabad, at a disappointing strike rate of 127.58. Earlier, he failed to be effective for MI Cape Town in his country’s SA20 League. 

Scoring 243 runs with a half-century in 10 matches at a strike rate of 122.11, he ended up becoming the leading run-scorer in MI’s failed campaign but couldn’t justify his role in the team.