In the inaugural season, under-19 players were not a part of the IPL auction
As we stand merely a few hours away from the IPL mega auction 2025, our cricket enthusiast soul brings back memories of the first-ever Indian Premier League (IPL) auction that took place in 2008. Sixteen years ago, the spotlight was on players such as Shane Warne, Brett Lee, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, MS Dhoni, and several other popular names. However, amidst the crowd, a lesser-known 19-year-old lean boy from Delhi was picked up by Royal Challengers Bangalore (Back them, Royal Challengers Bengaluru were called Bangalore).
However, the boy in question, i.e., Virat Kohli, should have gone to Delhi, given he hails from Delhi, but why didn't he?
Although the 2008 IPL auction was held in January, almost two months before India won the U-19 World Cup in Malaysia under Virat Kohli's captaincy, the IPL committee decided that U-19 players could be part of a special draft. In the domestic circuit, Kohli was a popular name from Delhi, and therefore, Delhi was expected to pick Kohli.
Back then, the Delhi Capitals were known as the Delhi Daredevils, and their initial plan was to gun for Kohli. However, during the auction, Delhi had already picked the likes of Virender Sehwag, AB de Villiers, Gautam Gambhir, and Shikhar Dhawan. Therefore, Delhi no longer required a top-order batsman.
Therefore, Delhi Daredevils chose Pradeep Sangwan, a left-arm seamer who was Kohli's teammate in the U-19 World Cup and was called the best bowler in the U-19 team by Kohli himself.
During an RCB podcast, Kohli stated, "There was one conversation where I heard from people that the Delhi team was interested to go after me, but the dynamics of their team turned out to be such that they went for Pradeep Sangwan - who was a left-arm seamer, amazing bowler, at that time he was our best bowler in U-19. So Delhi decided to go for him because they wanted their bowling strengthened, and RCB picked me. In hindsight, I feel it was such an important moment in my life. I didn't realize it then, but now, when I look back, things could have been very different to what they are now. I would not have it any other way than this."
The decision shocked everyone in the pre-season draft room, but at the same time, it allowed Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to pick Kohli.
"๐๐ผ๐ต๐น๐ถ ๐ถ๐ ๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ฝ๐น๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐, ๐ถ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐น๐น-๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฑ & ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฝ๐น๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ๐น๐น ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ๐บ๐ฎ๐๐ ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ."
โ Cricket.com (@weRcricket) November 15, 2024
Shivnarine Chanderpaul shares his thoughts playing with Virat Kohli for RCB back in 2008๐
Full episode: https://t.co/Ta859JTZWB pic.twitter.com/n7MLpdLZyF
For a 19-year-old back in 2008, INR 12 lakh was quite a hefty amount that Bangalore had paid. Given it was not an auction, players were present in sets from 1 to 8. While we do not correctly remember in which set he was presented, Bangalore picked Kohli without any hesitation, and the rest, as they say, is history.
When I bid for the RCB franchise and I bid for Virat, my inner instinct told me that I could not have made better choices. My inner instinct tells me that RCB have the best chance to go for the IPL Trophy. Onward and Upward. Best of luck.
โ Vijay Mallya (@TheVijayMallya) May 21, 2024
As of now, Kohli remains the only player who has never played for another franchise since 2008. While the IPL trophy has managed to escape Kohli and RCB's grasp, Kohli, over the years, has scripted history with his willow while representing RCB. Presently the highest scorer in the tournament, he has scored 8,004 in 252 matches played for RCB, including eight centuries and 55 fifties.
