Tamil Nadu’s flamboyant middle-order batsman Shahrukh Khan shined bright in the IPL 2021 auction in Chennai on Thursday (February 18), as he was signed by Punjab Kings for a whopping Rs 5.25 crore for the forthcoming 14th edition of the IPL 2021.
There was a massive bidding war between Punjab Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore for Sharukh in the IPL auction 2021 before Preity Zinta's franchise pocketed Tamil Nadu’s swashbuckling batsman for Rs 5.25 crore at the auction on Thursday in Chennai.
The 25-year-old, who is known for his power-hitting ability, entered the auction with the base price of Rs 20 lakh and ended up getting a jackpot from the Punjab Kings, but the uncapped batsman played down the hype around his price tag.
He grabbed attention in the inaugural edition of the junior Chennai Super Kings tournament, a talent hunt event conducted by the 3-time champions.
The big-hitter from Chennai was named after the Bollywood superstar and he said: “My mom's sister was a big fan of actor Shahrukh Khan, so they named me after him.”
He hit an unbeaten 40 off 19 balls in the quarter-final match against Himachal Pradesh and then played an entertaining cameo of an unbeaten 18 off 7 deliveries in the final to help Tamil Nadu win the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy against Baroda last month.
Khan said of his batting, “I think I have that naturally [the ability to hit big] because I am heavily-built and I have the power to muscle the ball. I have been working on it and trying to improve on that as well.
I started playing from around under-13 days and when I got through the ranks I knew that I could make a career out of cricket. I got a lot of runs in my age-group category. That helped me and motivated me to try and excel at the next level.”
He is a multi-dimensional player who can bowl off-spin, fast and is a very agile fielder. The right-hander signed off by saying, “I used to bowl off-spin when I was younger. But I have been bowling fast for around two years. I will be bowling fast.”
Meanwhile, Khan’s childhood coach and Tamil Nadu selector R. Venkatesh said: “He was a very good all-rounder and could hit the ball very hard from a very young age. He was a powerful guy from a very young age. He had a string of very good performances for Tamil Nadu in age-group tournaments, Buchi Babu tournament, etc.”
He added, “We always knew he would be a big buy-in this IPL considering his performances in the T20 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy tournament this season where you could see him hitting the ball hard. Basically, he is a very good prospect. He can also play the longer format. He has the ability to adapt to any situation. He plays for one of the India Cements teams in the Chennai league.”
Noteworthy, Khan has played a total of 5 first-class matches and scored 231 runs with the highest score of 92 not out in first-class cricket while managed 286 runs at an average of 35.75 in 20 List A matches for Tamil Nadu so far.
(With IANS Inputs)
