IPL 2024 Auction: England Batter Phil Salt SHOCKED After All 10 Franchises Refuse To Buy Him

Salt, who played last IPL for Delhi Capitals for a sum of Rs 2 crore per season, was releaded ahead of auction but did not find a buyer even when fast bowlers earned crores.

Phil Salt. (Image: ANI)

While it is true that in smaller Indian Premier League (IPL) auctions, foreign players receive massive money by the franchises, there are some overseas cricketers who are left confused on why no one opted for them. One of these batters is England's opening batsman Phil Salt. He had set his base price at Rs 2 crore and went unsold on the day he smashed a 57-ball 119 vs West Indies.

Salt has played IPL for Delhi Capitals who had picked him for a sum of Rs 2 crore in last year's auction. But DC released him ahead of IPL 2024 Auction despite him scoring 218 runs in 9 matches at a brilliant strike rate of 163.91. Salt was left confused after the auction ended. He had expected him to find a team but totally unexpected happened at the auction when he was neither bid in the first round or in the accelerated auction. 

"It was a confusing morning. I expected to be picked up, having gone there last year and done well and after the year that I've had, but these things happen," Salt was quoted as saying on Cricbuzz.

On the same day Salt went unsold, West Indian batter Rovman Powell fetched over Rs 7 crore while Australia's pacemen Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins broke all records to fetch Rs 20.50 crore and Rs 24.75 crore in the auction. It was a day when the bowlers were in demand as Australia's Spencer Johnson too fetched Rs 10 crore by Gujarat Titans (GT).

The IPL franchises may have roped in factors like availability of the English players before going out for the players from England.  The England side are likely to play T20Is in end of May which means that Salt will not be playing the whole IPL. Also, the ECB has the tendency of keeping their players fresh ahead of the important tournaments. With T20 World Cup 2024 already scheduled to take place from first week of June, many England players may miss the last phase of the Indian Premier League.