Australian all-rounder Moises Henriques said he was not expecting to get picked up by any franchise in the recent Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) auctions.
Henriques was brought by the Punjab Kings (PBKS) for Rs 4.2 crore in the IPL mini-auction held on February 18 in Chennai. He joined fellow Australians Jhye Richardson and Riley Meredith at Punjab Kings for IPL 14.
He has so far played 57 matches in the IPL so far since 2009, featuring for Kolkata Knight Riders, Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals), Royal Challengers Bangalore, Sunrisers Hyderabad, and King XI Punjab.
As reported by cricket.com.au, Henriques said: “I was not expecting to get picked up at all. It wasn't until I woke up to go to the bathroom that I noticed I saw a couple of messages saying congrats on the pick-up and I thought, “That's nice” and tried to go back to sleep as soon as possible.”
The all-rounder further added, “I just assumed I would have been picked up at a base price. Then it wasn't until I woke up properly in the morning that I realized how much I went for.”
Meanwhile, Henriques is now hoping to return to Australia's T20 squad if he has a good IPL 2021.
He explained, “There's no secret I was gutted when you fight your way into the international white-ball teams and then you get selected to go to South Africa and that tour doesn't go ahead, and you don't get your opportunity to defend your spot in that (T20) team when it goes to New Zealand.”
Henriques signed off by saying, “By not playing, someone else gets that opportunity - and deservedly so. But the IPL is more T20 cricket, more white-ball cricket for me to play and learn from. If I do get that opportunity (for Australia) in the future, then I'd be ready to go.”
(With ANI Inputs)
