On Sunday evening, the two-day IPL 2022 mega-auction drew to a close, with 2-4 players being selected by each of the 10 IPL franchises. The Indian Premier League’s teams paid a total of INR 551.7 million to assemble their squads for the 2022 season. While the mega-auctions saw some hefty acquisitions and heated bidding battles, the fans also saw some of the top stars miss out on a position in any franchise.
Ishan Kishan, India’s young batsman, remained the most expensive purchase, with the Mumbai Indians paying a record Rs. 15.25 crore to get him back into the squad. Deepak Chahar, an Indian bowler, was the subject of a heated bidding war between four franchises, but he was finally brought back into the squad by CSK for Rs. 14 crores.
Aside from this, spectators saw certain uncapped players embark on a spending spree of stratospheric proportions. Punjab Kings paid Rs. 9 crores for Shahrukh Khan, who had a base price of Rs. 40 lakh. Gujarat Titans also paid the same amount for Rahul Tewatia. KKR paid Rs. 7.25 crore to keep Shivam Mavi, while Sunrisers Hyderabad spent Rs. 4 crores to obtain pace bowler Kartik Tyagi. Lucknow Super Giants purchased Avesh Khan at Rs. 10 crores, making him the most expensive uncapped player in IPL history.
The IPL 2022 mega auction featured the best cricketing talents from across the world, except cricketers from Pakistan, who were excluded owing to the suspension of the cricketing relationship between the two countries.
For several years, Pakistani cricketers have been absent from the prestigious and attractive competition. This did not deter a Pakistani journalist from sharing his thoughts on the just ended mega auction.
While fan responses to the IPL 2022 mega-auction agreements have flooded social media, a Pakistani journalist, Ihtisham Ul Haq, said something so absurd about the IPL auction that he has been viciously mocked on social media.
Ihtisham Ul Haq claimed on Twitter that if Pakistani bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi had participated in the IPL 2022 mega-auction, he would have fetched $200 million. He wrote,
If, Shaheen Shah Afridi was in #IPLAuction. He would’ve gone for 200 crores.
— Ihtisham Ul Haq (@iihtishamm) February 13, 2022
Shaheen may be one of the finest fast bowlers in the world right now, but saying he would have taken Rs 200 crore was a classic example of allowing your sentiments to dominate the logic. His sentiments are that if Shaheen had been in IPL, he would have become a most expensive player easily and logic says that even if he were, they would not have sold at this much amount.
The pay limit for each franchise was Rs. 90 crore, and fans wasted no time in savagely trolling the Pakistani journalist and flooding Twitter with funny memes.
Here are some of those
In Indian currency that translates to 4 rupees. https://t.co/xMLePjbrHm
— Gabbbar (@GabbbarSingh) February 15, 2022
Imran Khan may use him for repaying China’s loan instead of trading Pakistan’s Women. https://t.co/j71pciGCo7
— CA Kunal (@being_moron) February 14, 2022
Team owners be like ! https://t.co/ubDX8X5Yz3 pic.twitter.com/eFOnuK2yLF
— vj_2701 (@VIJAYSOPNE0) February 15, 2022
Grapes are sour eh Porkis?!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 https://t.co/4Sf8Gzzydr
— Arjun Vaid (@arjunvaid0113) February 15, 2022
Betichd 200 cr me pura Pak khrid lenge 😆😆
— Rohit (@RohitRanjan0333) February 13, 2022
another chance to pay off their cripplings debts gone https://t.co/akj6hHhy6o
— Shambhav Sharma (@shambhav15) February 14, 2022
Gift “Shaheen Shah Afridi” to #China🇨🇳, as it may save your “Karachi Port”. https://t.co/BWTFPzAk9O
— Ankur🇮🇳™ (@unapologeticAnk) February 15, 2022
Shaheen Afridi, a left-arm pacer, made his Pakistan debut in 2018 and has since appeared in 21 Tests, 28 One-Day Internationals, and 39 T20 Internationals, taking a total of 184 wickets. The 21-year-old is known for his ability to produce high-speed swing, generate bounce with his height, and take wickets with the new ball.
Last year, in the T20 world cup, he hit the headlines when he grabbed the wickets of both openers of India i.e. Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul in the powerplay overs and dismisses then-captain Virat Kohli in the death overs.