Perhaps it is in the name. Shahrukh Khan was meant to be a celebrity.
The heavy-hitter was back in the team bus after completing the Tamil Nadu practice session in Indore ahead of the Vijay Hazare one-day tournament when he followed the IPL auction on his mobile.
And his teammates too were catching the action on their mobiles.
And when the 25-year-old Shahrukh’s name came up, there was hectic bidding at the end of which Punjab Kings secured him for a whopping ₹5.25 crore; his base price was just ₹20 lakh.
Shahrukh said to The Hindu , “No, I was not nervous when my name came on. Finally when I went for over ₹5 crore, it was a nice feeling. My teammates in the bus were overjoyed,” he said.
Shahrukh added, “And skipper Dinesh Karthik was jumping around. So happy was he at my price.”
Also in the bus was leg-spinner M. Ashwin who too plays for Punjab Kings. “He was very pleased. Finally, he had a teammate from Tamil Nadu in the franchise.”
Then his family from back home in Chennai called and Shahrukh said, “They were all very happy.”
Difficult phase
Shahrukh overcame a difficult phase last year when he was ignored at the IPL auction. Then he underwent a surgery on his finger but came back strongly in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament where he came up with a match-winning knock against Himachal Pradesh.
And now he is among the big buys in the IPL. This Shahrukh is meant for stardom.
