IPL 2018 Auction: Krunal Pandya, Mayank Agarwal, Rajneesh Gurbani could light up domestic pool

IPL 2018

At the IPL 2018 Auction on January 27 and 28 in Bengaluru, Krunal Pandya is likely to draw plenty of interest from potential bidders with the all-rounder entering the pool at a base price of Rs 40 lakh.

On January 4, the night of IPL 2018 Player Retention announcement, there was speculation whether Mumbai Indians will go on to retain both Pandya brothers – Hardik Pandya and Krunal Pandya – who have garnered massive fan following with their all-round performance in the tournament in last couple of years. While the former made it into the team, the uncapped Krunal was left out.

Apart from Hardik, the defending IPL champions also retained ROHIT SHARMA and Jasprit Bumrah. As per IPL 2018 Retention Policy, Mumbai Indians can still use their Right-to-Match Card and with Krunal’s blistering form in the tournament last season, they are likely to use it on him.

In Krunal, a franchise gets a fearless, dynamic match-winner who can perform both with the ball and the bat. In 25 IPL matches, the 26-year old has scored 480 runs at an average of 34.29 and a strike rate of 158.42. The slow left-arm bowler has also taken 16 wickets at an average of 31.81 and has an economy of 7.15 which is considerably impressive in the shortest format.

Much like his brother, the left-handed batsman has an uncanny ability to loft the ball out of the park for maximum that makes him an asset lower down the order in any batting line-up. He can also get crucial wickets and slow down the run rate, which makes him one of the most promising uncapped players in the tournament.

It is likely all the franchises will be interested in bidding for the youngster, who enters the auction at a base price of Rs 40 lakh, even though there is a huge possibility he will join his brother at Mumbai Indians – the only questions remains is for how much.