IPL auction: Karun Nair, Manish Pandey, Steve Smith go unsold

Dubai, December 19

Out-of-favour India batters Karun Nair, Manish Pandey and star Australian batter Steve Smith went unsold in the first round of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 auction here on Tuesday.

Nair’s base price was Rs 50 lakh but he went unsold. In the 2023 season, Nair was part of the Rajasthan-based franchise. The 32-year-old appeared in 76 IPL matches and scored 1496 runs in the extravagant T20 tournament.

Australian batter Steve Smith also went unsold. Smith had a base price of Rs 2 crore but no franchises made a bid for the 34-year-old.

Smith played his last IPL game in 2021, following that he has not been a part of any franchise. The Aussie played 103 matches in the IPL, where he scored 2,485 runs.

Meanwhile, Indian batter Manish Pandey also went unsold in the first round. Manish’s base price was Rs 50 lakh. In the 2023 IPL season, Manish played for the Delhi-based franchise.

Manish has played 170 IPL matches in which he scored 3,808 runs at a strike rate of 120.97.

South Africa’s experienced batter Rilee Rossouw didn’t find any team that was willing to meet his base price of Rs 2 crore.