At the Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai on Tuesday, December 19, the IPL 2024 Auction was successfully held, with 10 franchises purchasing a total of 72 players. Even though certain well-known figures in international cricket were able to earn large sums of money, several uncapped Indian players made news when teams spent a significant amount of their budgets to sign them. Kushagra’s father, Shashikanth, responded to DC’s request for his son, saying that the team’s Director of Cricket, Sourav Ganguly, a former India captain, was delighted with Kumar Kushagra six-hitting skills during the DC tryouts in Kolkata
Kumar Kushagra was one such player, acquired by the Delhi Capitals (DC) for INR 7.2 crore following a fierce bidding battle with the Gujarat Titans. Notably, Kushagra is a wicketkeeper-batsman who is from Jharkhand, the same state as former India captain MS Dhoni.
Ganguly was amazed with his fielding skills and six-hitting prowess during the tryouts. Shashikanth Kushagra was reported by The Indian Express as stating, “His keeping skills also impressed Ganguly and he even told him that there is a bit of MS Dhoni in him when he whips the bails.”
Shashikanth went on to say that Ganguly had dubbed it a “miraculous day” when Delhi selected his son, and that he had pledged to offer up to INR 10 crore for him.
Ganguly stated the team will make an offer up to ₹10 crore for him: Shashikanth
Ganguly informed Kushagra that he will play for the Delhi Capitals and that the team would bid up to ₹10 crore for him following the tryouts at Eden Gardens. I assumed the Capitals would select him at base. I felt like I was numb for a few minutes. Miracles are all one can think about, and today was one of those days. He was sure since Ganguly had given him his word, but he may have said this to boost his confidence.
Notably, Kushagra accomplished the rare accomplishment of becoming the youngest cricket player to score 250 or more in a first-class match against Nagaland in the Ranji Trophy 2021–22. With this accomplishment, he broke the record that the illustrious Pakistani batter Javed Miandad had previously held. Kushagra has amassed 140 runs with a strike rate of 117.64 and an average of 15.55 in the 11 T20 matches.
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