Tamil Nadu’s highly rated finisher Shahrukh Khan and Haryana allrounder Rahul Tewatia have hit the pay dirt on the first day of the IPL 2022 auction after being bought for a whopping Rs 9 crore each by Punjab Kings and Gujarat Titans respectively. Shahrukh, who was recently added to India’s white-ball squads for the ongoing home series against West Indies, has thus become the most expensive uncapped player at the auction.
The 26-year-old Shahrukh has played 50 T20s so far and scored 547 runs at a strike-rate of 136.4. He’s known for his finishing skills having fired Tamil Nadu to title win in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy hitting a last-ball six as his team needed five runs to win against Karnataka last year.
On the other hand, Tewatia hit the headlines during IPL 2020 when he smoked five sixes in an over of Sheldon Cottrell.
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“The role that I play when you get the job done, obviously everyone will tend to talk about it a lot,” Shahrukh told ESPNcricinfo in an interview. “I think when I walk in, I just try to be the best [version] of myself and stop worrying about things people are talking about. Only I know what’s happening in my head and I shut out the noise – whatever it is.”
While he may have made his name in white-ball cricket, Shahrukh says he has a lot to offer in the longest format as well. “Touch wood, things are going well for me in white-ball cricket for Tamil Nadu. I feel that people brand quickly that he is a white-ball player only, but I want to do well and hit the next level in all formats,” Shahrukh said.
“I want to get big runs in Ranji Trophy. I might also bat down the order in red-ball cricket and I want to handle those situations better, with Prasanna as the example. He has bailed out Tamil Nadu from so many situations in swinging conditions. The margin for error in red-ball cricket is a lot less and I enjoy that challenge,” he added.
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