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ToggleJoe Root, England’s Test captain, has said that he was disappointed after he failed to attract a bid in the IPL auction,
“I was disappointed. The reason I wanted to go out there was to play more Twenty20 cricket; it wasn’t to go and earn as much money as possible. I’m not in that position,” he said.
“For me, I wasn’t going to fit into any one of those [IPL] teams. There’s not really much you can do. It was disappointing but it’s also very understandable. Sides have a clear idea of what they want their makeup of their team to look like and they build around that,” Root added.
It was the first time in the history of IPL when Root registered for the T20 league.
His name was on the list of marquee players, who were up for grabs right at the start.
However, he did not find a buyer at the first go.
His name was called up again during the two-day process, but for the second time, no franchise showed interest in him.
Root had set his base price Rs 1.50 Crore.
His availability plus lack of T20Is he plays were probably the reasons behind him going unsold.
Just before the IPL auction, he withdrew his name from the England T20I squad for the Trans-Tasman Trophy.
He last played a T20I against Windies, when the Caribbean team was in England for a complete series.
Talking about his availability, if he were sold, he would have joined his IPL team later, missing pre-season preparations, due to New Zealand Test series.
Also, he would have left the camp early so as to prepare for Pakistan Test series, which starts in the final week of IPL.
Although Ben Stokes will also leave the camp early; teams were ready to go all out after the all-rounder.
Along with Root, England’s limited-overs captain Eoin Morgan also went unsold.
It was a disappointing day for England as their leaders across formats could not get a buyer.
They can always be roped in by a franchise as a replacement for an injured player.
The chances of Morgan being roped in – as a replacement if any -are more than Root.
Root is currently playing ODI series against New Zealand and post the completion of ODI series; he will lead his side for two Test matches.
When IPL is on, Root will be available for his county, Yorkshire.
India Test player, Cheteshwar Pujara, will also join Yorkshire.
It will be interesting to see how these two play for the same county as India are scheduled to tour England from July to September.
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