Morgan confirms growing reputation
The US$220,000 bid for batsman and occasional wicketkeeper Eoin Morgan, the only England player to be sold in the IPL auction, is a sign of the rapid strides he's made in international cricket, writes David Clough in the Independent .
Siddhartha Talya
25-Feb-2013
The US$220,000 bid for batsman and occasional wicketkeeper Eoin Morgan, the only England player to be sold in the IPL auction, is a sign of the rapid strides he's made in international cricket, writes David Clough in the Independent.
The 23-year-old Morgan's 67 from just 34 balls as England knocked South Africa out of their own Champions Trophy last September was doubtless the innings which alerted the money men at the IPL to his potential.
Many others already knew, of course, that – despite a meagre first-class average – Morgan was going places.
Read Dileep Premachandran's take on the IPL auctions in the Guardian. The story of the day was the franchises' snub of the Pakistani players; a decision based on political realities than on form.
When Richard Madley, who usually helps sell antiques and carpets, started proceedings by inviting bids for Shahid Afridi – an absolute steal at the base price of $250,000 – not one of the paddles shaped like the Olympic flame went up. There was only silence, an emptiness that echoed around the room at the Trident Hotel later when names like Umar Akmal and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan came up.
Siddhartha Talya is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo