Rs 5.80 crore each: Vidarbha’s Yadav, Dubey strike it rich

By Paritosh Pramanik

INDIA international pacer Umesh Yadav and hard-hitting Vidarbha batter Shubham Dubey both fetched a whopping Rs 5.80 crore each during the IPL mini auction which took place at Dubai on Tuesday.

First to earn big was veteran Vidarbha and India pacer Yadav who went to Gujarat Titans for Rs 5.80 crore.

Yadav was released by Kolkata Knight Riders and went through the auction for a base price of Rs two crore.

Later in the day, it was 

time for Dubey to hog the 

limelight and make this auction count after last year’s disappointment.

The lanky left-handed batter, who had a base price of Rs two lakh, was picked up by Rajasthan Royals, who fought hard with Delhi Capitals to get him for Rs 5.80 crore.

Both Vidarbha players —Yadav and Dubey — termed their price tag as 

“unbelievable”.

While Yadav is an IPL veteran with over 140 matches under his belt, Dubey will be making his maiden entry into the cash-rich T20 league.

“I was expecting to get picked by one of the franchises but was not thinking of this big amount,” Yadav told ‘The Hitavada’ immediately after he was bought by Gujarat Titans.

For Dubey, it will change his life forever.

“Last year, I could not attend the auction as I was injured but this time, I gave trials to almost all teams. I was sure of getting picked but never thought that I would fetch this big an amount. It’s huge,” Dubey said.

Dubey was in fine form this season in the domestic tournaments and had plenty of runs under his belt in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy to show.

In the 20 T20 matches for Vidarbha till date, Dubey has scored 485 runs at the strike rate of 145.20.

Dubey had given trials of almost all the franchises and was given a task to score ‘x’ number of runs in ‘x’ number of balls. The left-handed batter cleared the ‘exam’ with flying colours making a strong case.

Yadav is an experienced India campaigner and has played IPL for KKR, DC, RCB in previous editions.

With age catching up (he is 36), Yadav will be one of the senior pros in Gujarat Titans set-up and will share the ball with Mohd Shami, Mohit Sharma and city-mate Darshan Nalkande along with others.