IPL 2024: The Shashank redemption

Uncapped Indian all-rounder Shashank Singh was in the news after Punjab Kings (PBKS) bought him 'by mistake' during the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction in December. 

PBKS bought the 32-year-old at his base price of Rs 20 lakh after the team seemingly mixed up the name of the player during the auction in Dubai.

During the accelerated round, auctioneer Mallika Sagar announced and called out the name of Shashank, who represents Chhattisgarh in domestic cricket.

Shashank, who remained unsold in the previous year's auction after being released by Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), found a team as PBKS emerged as the sole bidder.

PBKS co-owner Preity Zinta raised the paddle after a brief discussion with the rest of her team members when Shashank's name appeared. Auctioneer Mallika followed the routine procedure and brought down her hammer to seal Shashank's sale to the franchise with her hammer.

When the auctioneer Mallika moved to the next set of players, with Tanay Thyagrajan, being the first name up, PBKS realised their mistake and owners Ness Wadia and Preity informed her that they had mistaken Shashank for another player.

"Oh! You don't want the player?" asked Mallika. "We are talking about Shashank Singh. But the hammer has come down. Player No. 236 and 237 both went to you, I think".

Later, PBKS issued a clarification that they had picked the 'right cricketer', contrary to reports that they had bid for a 'wrong player' because of confusion in the name.

In their clarification, PBKS had said, "Media have reported on Shashank Singh being bought erroneously by Punjab Kings. The Kings would like to clarify that the player was always on our target list.

"The confusion was due to 2 players of the same name being on the list. We are delighted to have him on board and see him contribute to our success," said the PBKS statement.

However, on Thursday night Shashank announced his arrival with a match-winning knock for PBKS against Gujarat Titans in IPL 2024 at the gigantic Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Shashank slammed an unbeaten 29-ball 61 as PBKS won the match by three wickets off the penultimate ball.

The player-of-the-match was ably supported by Impact Player Ashutosh Sharma (31 off 17) as the duo shared 43 runs off just 22 balls for the seventh wicket to snatch an unlikely win for PBKS. 

Shashank played 10 matches for SRH in IPL 2022 and he has been part of all four matches for PBKS this season. The special knock against Titans will surely help him cement his place in the XI.

(With inputs from agencies)