Khrievitso Kense. (Morung File)
-292 players to go under hammer on February 18
-Kense listed with base price of Rs 20 lakh
Morung Express News
Dimapur | February 13
Khrievitso Kense, the 16-year-old All-Rounder from Nagaland, has become the youngest player from India to make it to the ‘VIVO IPL 2021 Player Auction List’ announced by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on February 11.
Born on March 2004, Kense will be 17 years next month.
As per the Player Auction List issued by IPL on February 11, Kense’s ‘specialism’ is given as All-Rounder – a Right Hand Batsman and a Right Arm Leg Break blower.
The uncapped player from Nagaland Cricket Association has a reserve base price of Rs 20 lakh.
Overall, 16-year-old Noor Ahmad Lakanwal, a ‘Left Arm Slow Unorthodox’ bowler from Afghanistan, is the youngest player in the list.
Auction on February 18
A total of 292 cricketers are set to go under the hammer in Chennai starting 3 PM on February 18, according a media release by BCCI on Indian Premier League’s (IPL) official website.
Initially 1114 cricketers registered for the auction and the final list was then pruned after the eight franchises submitted their shortlist of players, it said.
The final list has 164 Indian players, 125 overseas players and 3 players from Associate Nations, it added.
Further, the release informed that Rs 2 crore is the highest reserve price and two Indian players – Harbhajan Singh and Kedar Jadhav –and eight overseas players – Glenn Maxwell, Steve Smith, Shakib Al Hasan, Moeen Ali, Sam Billings, Liam Plunkett, Jason Roy & Mark Wood have chosen to be slotted in the highest bracket.
“12 players are in the auction list with a base price of INR 1.5 crore. Hanuma Vihari and Umesh Yadav are the two Indian players in the list of 11 cricketers with a base price of INR 1 crore,” it added.
Rio ‘bats’ for Kense
Meanwhile, Nagaland Chief Minister on Saturday took to Twitter to extend his wishes to Kense and hoped that he would be selected by a ‘great franchisee’.
“My best wishes to Khrievitso Kense from Nagaland, the youngest Indian player to be shortlisted for #IPL2021Auction. I hope he gets picked by a great franchisee that will perform excellently in the @IPL 2021,” Rio tweeted.
The Morung Express had earlier reported that two IPL franchisees Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians (MI) had invited Kense to undergo trails.
He reportedly underwent a 5-day trial with the Mumbai Indians from January 20 to 24 at the Mumbai Reliance Cricket Ground and a 2-day trial with the Rajasthan Royals in February.
The youngster grabbed the attention of the IPL giants after producing a series of remarkable performances on his domestic debut at the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament held recently in Chennai.
Among others, he took taking 7 wickets at an impressive economy rate of 5.47 in 4 games during the tournament.
If Kense is selected on February 18, he will be the first from Nagaland and youngest Indian player in IPL 2021.
