MAKING him the costliest buy from Vidarbha till date, Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) picked Twenty20 skipper Jitesh Sharma for a whopping Rs 11 crore in the IPL auction underway in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Sunday. A former player with Punjab Kings, the India stumper was released by the franchise and it proved to be a blessing for the talented Vidarbha lad. From his base price of Rs one crore, Sharma was finally picked for Rs 11 crore after intense battle among franchisees. It were Chennai Super Kings, who started the bidding and subsequently Lucknow Supergiants and Delhi Capitals raised the amount. RCB quoted a price of Rs 7 crore and at this juncture, ‘Right to Match’ card was employed by Punjab but RCB raised the amount to 11 crore and Punjab surrendered. Now, very much in the Twenty20 scheme of things for India, Sharma, who was part of the team that defeated South Africa recently, was even the Vice-Captain of the Punjab outfit. He played 14 matches last season and did well in the limited opportunities that he got. He was also with Mumbai Indians in the past.

 

Punjab, who finished at the bottom in the last edition and had released all but two uncapped players, also showed keen interest in Sharma during the auction. Last year, India pacer ‘Vidarbha Express’ Umesh Yadav and big-hitter Shubham Dubey went for Rs 5.80 crore each. Yadav and Dubey were picked by Gujarat Titans and Rajasthan Royals respectively. Sharma has now fetched almost double the previous top deals. Till the filing of report, three of the other ten Vidarbha players in fray were sold out. India player and a professional for Vidarbha, Karun Nair (DC) was picked for Rs 50 lakh and Atharva Taide (SRH) for Rs 30 lakh while all-rounder Yash Thakur was bagged by Punjab Kings for a decent sum of Rs 1.60 crore.