Indian player 'shocked and heartbroken' after going unsold at the IPL 2023 Auction

The Indian cricketer found no favours at the IPL 2023 mini-auction held in Kochi, with none of the ten franchises raising a paddle for the player.

By Kashish Chadha Dec 26, 2022, 16:12 IST

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Forgotten India medium fast-bowler Sandeep Sharma is in dismay after going unsold at the IPL 2023 mini-auction held last week in Kochi.

A sad indictment of Sharma's stocks being at an all-time low, even in the IPL, the experienced cricketer found no bids for himself from any of the ten franchises part of the bidding war.

Reacting to the same in an interview with Cricket.com, the right-arm pacer stressed on his disappointment and said he is shocked to the core to not have an IPL contract all of a sudden.

Part of the Punjab Kings (PBKS) last edition after finding a base sum bid of INR 50 lakhs, Sandeep Sharma played only five of the 14 league-stage encounters and picked up just two wickets, which may have fastened his ouster from the scene the following year.

Sandeep Sharma on axe from IPL 2023

The 29-year-old quick, who made his India debut during the 2015 trip to Zimbabwe and has two T20I caps to his name, has played only 12 matches of the IPL since the beginning of the 2021 season with Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH).

There is a chance that Sandeep Sharma maybe brought in as injury replacement during the season but with young quicks emerging across the board, his hopes of a revival look bleak for now.

"I’m shocked and disappointed," Sharma said. "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."

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Sharma has an overall impressive record in the IPL, carrying an economy rate of 7.77 over 104 matches with 114 wickets.

Having moved to Chandigarh as a professional, he also had an impressive Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 2022-23 campaign. The pacer took his 10 wickets at only 5.69 runs an over.

"Don’t even know where it has gone wrong," he said, alluding to those feats. "In domestic cricket, I have been performing well. In the Ranji Trophy, last round, I took seven wickets. I did so well in Syed Mushtaq Ali."