IPL 2021 Auction: “Pretty Outrageous,” Riley Meredith On Getting Rs 8 Crores From Punjab Kings

Riley Meredith, Australia’s uncapped fast bowler, was one of the success stories in the recent IPL 2021 auction. He earned a Rs 8 crore bid from the Punjab Kings (PBKS) franchise, the most for an overseas uncapped player in the auction.

The 24-year-old pacer had gone unsold last time after setting a base price of INR 40 lakhs. When he set his base price to the same amount this time around, he had hoped for a bid or two. However, when his name came up for bidding, it triggered a bidding war between Delhi Capitals and the Punjab Kings, with the latter eventually going on to pick the pacer for Rs 8 crore, 20 times his base price.

“It Got A Bit Out Of Control, And It Was Pretty Amazing To Go That High,” Said Riley Meredith

“It was pretty outrageous really, wasn’t expecting too much going on. Was hopeful for a bid or two. It got a bit out of control, luckily enough a couple of teams doing a bit of bidding and it was pretty amazing to go that high,” Meredith said in a video shared by Punjab Kings on their Twitter account.

Meredith also said that he had hoped to be bought for a decent price as the franchises were on the lookout for fast bowlers.

“There was a bit of talk before the auction about fast bowlers being in demand this year. It was a good time to not be allocated to a franchise. Bit of right place, right time. I’m sure it will be a learning curve and hoping to grab it with both hands,” he added.

Punjab Kings splurged quite a bit, buying Australia’s Jhye Richardson for a whopping Rs 14 crores, apart from Riley Meredith. PBKS also bought Dawid Malan, Moises Henriques, and Fabien Allen as their overseas picks in the auction.

Punjab Kings full squad: 

KL Rahul (C), Dawid Malan, Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Mandeep Singh, Prabsimran Singh, Nicholas Pooran (WK), Sarfaraz Khan, Deepak Hooda, Murugan Ashwin, Ravi Bishnoi, Harpreet Brar, Moises Henriques, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ishan Porel, Darshan Nalkande, Chris Jordan, Jhye Richardson, Shahrukh Khan, Riley Meredith, Jalaj Saxena, Utkarsh Singh, Saurabh Kumar, Fabian Allen

Also Read: Hard To Turn Down The Money In The IPL For Players With Only White-Ball Contracts – Jonny Bairstow 

Here is the video message of Riley Meredith shared by Punjab Kings:

Watch this PACE for more! ??#SaddaPunjab #IPLAuction2021 #PunjabKings pic.twitter.com/KgH4PViTED

— Punjab Kings (@PunjabKingsIPL) February 18, 2021