Shocked To Get Steve Smith For Such A Low Amount, Says Delhi Capitals Co-Owner Parth Jindal

Steve Smith’s income from the IPL has dropped significantly – from making Rs. 12.5 cr for the past two seasons while playing for Rajasthan Royals, he is now bought by the Delhi Capitals for Rs. 2.2 cr for IPL 2021.

The former Australian captain was released by Rajasthan, the franchise for which he has played 4 seasons – 2014,2015,2018, and 2019 – before the IPL 2021 Auction after leading the side last year. Steve Smith had an inconsistent season with the bat and being a captain, and a big player, he was nigh impossible to drop as he held one overseas spot as well; add to it his massive price, which all made him a liability for the Royals, who didn’t even put a single bid for Smith on Thursday.

The right-hander was the first player to be sold in the auction after two English openers went unsold. Royal Challengers Bangalore placed the first bid for Smith at his base price of Rs 2 cr, which was incremented by that of the Capitals. To everyone’s surprise, RCB didn’t make any counter bid, and Smith was sold to the last season’s runner-ups.

We discussed Steve Smith’s name before the auction: Parth Jindal

Delhi Capitals co-owner Parth Jindal says that they had Steve Smith on their wishlist, but thought that the Australian will fetch a lot of money. However, to Jindal’s shock, they got their hands on the superstar batsman for a much lesser amount than they expected.

“It was just incredible to get Steve Smith. We are shocked about how he went only for Rs 2.2 crore, but to get a player of the caliber of Steve Smith, it’s going to add a lot to our squad, a lot to our balance. His leadership, his batting, his experience, everything,” Parth Jindal said as quoted by ANI.

“Everyone associated with Delhi is just thrilled. We discussed Smith’s name before the auction and we thought that he would go for much higher, so we had thought that if an opportunity arises, we will go for him, but we never anticipated actually getting him,” he added.

Apart from Smith, Delhi roped in Umesh Yadav, Tom Curran, Sam Billings, Lukman Meriwala, Ripal Patel, Vishnu Vinod, and Manimaran Siddharth. Jindal lauds the squad they have assembled, reaping praises on youngsters such as Meriwala and Tom Curran, and hopes that this squad will give them the lucrative title for the first time.

“I think it’s a very exciting squad yet again. Meriwala has been doing really well in the domestic tournaments and he’s an Indian left-arm quick which we didn’t have in our squad last year. He gives us an added variation and Tom Curran has the cutters, the slower ones, the quick ones and he’s very good with the bat as well, so he gives that added balance to the squad,” he further added.

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