"Shocked and disappointed"- Veteran IND pacer breaks his silence after going unsold in IPL Auction 2023

The mini-auction for the next edition of the Indian Premier League was successfully held in Kochi on December 23. It saw some record-breaking deals by some franchises with the players. A total of 405 players were chosen to come under the hammer.

But only 80 players, including 27 overseas players, got the deal, and a total of 167 crore were spent by the ten IPL franchises. Sam Curran became the costliest player ever in the IPL's history when he was acquired by the Punjab Kings for a price of INR 18.5 crore.

On the other hand, Australia all-rounder Cameron Green got a deal of INR 17.5 crore by Mumbai Indians. However, there were a few who were not that fortunate and went unsold in both rounds of the auction. One such player who didn't get any deals was experienced Indian pacer Sandeep Sharma.

Sandeep was unable to attract a bid from the teams, has played over 100 IPL games in his career. He made his IPL debut for Punjab Knigs in the 2013 season and remained with the team until the 2017 season. However, then he moved to Sunrisers Hyderabad and played for the next four seasons.

Sandeep was part of PBKS in 2022, but the franchise released him ahead of the auction. He was up for grabs with a base price of INR 50 lakh. And after going unsold at the auction, the pacer has opened up and expressed his disappointment.

In his latest discussion with Cricket.com, he admitted that he was shocked and didn't know why no one bid for him at the auction. He also said that he did well in the Ranji Trophy and the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy at the domestic level, but still no one noticed.

Sandeep said, "I’m shocked and disappointed. I don’t know why I went unsold. I’ve done well whichever team I had played for and genuinely thought some team would bid for me. To be honest, I was not expecting this."

Furthermore, he said that despite going unsold, he will not stop performing at whatever opportunity he gets. Sandeep is a complete swing bowler and has taken 114 wickets in 104 IPL games at a decent economy rate of 7.77.