IPL Auction 2021 | Chennai Super Kings (CSK) make Krishnappa Gowtham the most expensive uncapped IPL player at INR 9.25 Crores
Chennai Super Kings decided to spend big money on Krishnappa Gowtham and snapped him up for INR 9.25 crore at the IPL 2021 Auction. With that, the 32-year-old has become the most expensive uncapped player in the history of the Indian Premier League, surpassing the value of Krunal Pandya who was retained for INR 8.8 crore by Mumbai Indians through the Right to Match (RTM) option in 2018.
The 32-year-old was the subject of a three way bidding war between Chennai Super Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore. So far, Gowtham has played only 24 IPL matches. The all-rounder was registered for a base price of just INR 20 lakh. By the end of the auction, his price had increased by over 46 times.
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He was picked up by Mumbai Indians for what was a surprisingly high price in 2017. However, he failed to make his debut and was released ahead of the next season. He ended up making his debut for Rajasthan Royals and managed to establish himself in the playing XI, adding a lot of balance with both the bat and the ball. In 2020, he was selected by Kings XI Punjab.
In 24 IPL games, Krishnappa Gowtham has picked up 13 wickets at an economy rate of 8.26. He has also added 186 runs with the bat and is yet to cross the 50-run mark. The 32-year-old has played 62 T20s in his career and has scored 594 runs at a strike rate of 159.24. With the ball in hand, he has scalped 41 wickets and has an economy rate of 7.60 runs per over.
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Gowtham could provide a lot of balance to the CSK lineup, though they already have established all-rounders like Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran in their team. While Jadeja is currently injured, it’s unclear whether the Karnataka based all-rounder will be able to break into the XI. Spending big money on him just to be a back-up option seems illogical at this points, but we’ll wait and see what happens.