The famous adage ‘when it rains it pours’ holds true, in a good sense of course, for Pawan Negi at the moment.
The sporting world is full of stories that make you sit up and take and note. Negi’s story, especially in the last 48 hours, falls into that category.
After being picked for India’s T20 squad on Friday, the left-arm spinner earned a bumper IPL contract on Saturday.
Despite commanding a base price of just 30 lakh, the 23-year-old attracted a final bid of a whooping 8.5 crore that made him the second most expensive buy of the IPL 2016 player auction.
Negi previously represented the suspended Chennai Super Kings in the cash-rich league.
His ability to deliver lusty blows batting lower down the order impressed all including MS Dhoni in the last edition of the IPL.
In 56 T20 matches, the left-hander boasts of an astounding strike-rate of 134.92 with an average of 19.16 and has 46 wickets to his credit.
In the recent Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (T20 tournament), Negi was one of the star performers with 6 wickets and 173 runs in 9 games.
One could assess from the bidding that Dhoni’s new team Rising Pune Supergiants was keen on roping in the youngster.
Unfortunately for Stephen Fleming and the Pune table, the GMR-owned franchise beat them in the bidding war.
