The Chennai Super Kings‘ (CSK) consultant Sundar Raman and the Punjab Kings‘ (PBKS) co-owner Preity Zinta had a hilarious moment during the IPL 2024 auction in Dubai.
The IPL 2024 was conducted on Tuesday at the Coca Cola arena in Dubai – this was the first time in history that an IPL auction was staged outside India.
CSK and PBKS were involved in a fierce bidding war for New Zealand all-rounder Daryl Mitchell. Preity Zinta and PBKS were after Mitchell right from the second bid before CSK entered the fray at INR 12 crore price.
When Preity Zinta made the bid of 11.75 crore for Mitchell and Delhi Capitals backed away, she must have felt that she had locked Mitchell. However, before the auctioneer Mallika Sagar could hit the hammer, CSK’s Sundar Raman raised their bid for Mitchell at 12 crore.
Surprised by this sudden, out-of-nowhere interest for Mitchell by CSK, Preity Zinta looked back at the CSK table. Looking at the surprise at Zinta’s expression, Sundar Raman gave a cheeky smile to her, suggesting that they were ready to go hard for Mitchell. Their bidding went for 2 more crores and Preity Zinta backed out when CSK made a 14 crore bid for Mitchell, thus acquiring the services of the Kiwi all-rounder.
This video and short exchange between Preity Zinta and CSK’s Sundar Raman has gone viral:
Sundar Raman told out and came back with a wink. Chad Rizz😭🔥 pic.twitter.com/vSAO7SKHPq
— 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐨 Das (@SergioCSKK) December 19, 2023
At CSK, Daryl Mitchell fills the role of the released all-rounder Ben Stokes and the retired number 4 batsman Ambati Rayudu.
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) players bought in the IPL 2024 auction: Daryl Mitchell, Sameer Rizvi, Mustafizur Rahman, Rachin Ravindra, Shardul Thakur, Aravelly Avanish
CSK players retained: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway, Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni (c,wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube, Moeen Ali, Ajay Mandal, Nishant Sindhu, Mitchell Santner, Maheesh Theekshana, Prashant Solanki, Deepak Chahar, Matheesha Pathirana, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Mukesh Choudhary, Tushar Deshpande, Simarjeet Singh, Shaik Rasheed
The IPL 2024 season is likely to start on March 22, right after the conclusion of India vs England Test series.