Gujarat Titans headed into the auction in a bid to fill that giant void left by Hardik Pandya, who was traded to Mumbai Indians late last month after leading the side to back-to-back finals and winning one of them, and were probably expected to go hard when the first set of all-rounders, which included Pat Cummins and Rachin Ravindra, were called on Tuesday in the IPL 2024 auction in Dubai. However, the 2022 champions were uncontested when they roped in Afghan all-rounder Azmatullah Omarzai at his base price of ₹50 lakhs. Omarzai was one of Afghanistan’s best players during their 2023 ODI World Cup campaign, and his addition will be huge boost to GT. It will also be his IPL debut.
Meanwhile, uncapped Australia left-arm pacer Spencer Johnson joined GT for ₹10 crore, in a massive bidding war. GT also paid ₹5.8 crore for veteran India pacer Umesh Yadav. His experience will be key for Gujarat. Power-hitting specialist Shahrukh Khan, who was released by Punjab Kings, was also bought by GT for ₹7.4 crore.
Kartik Tyagi, an uncapped speedster was also picked by GT for ₹60 lakh, from a base price of ₹20 lakh. Tyagi was part of the India U-19 team which came runners-up in the 2020 U19 World Cup, and took 11 wickets including a four-wicket haul against Australia in the quarterfinals. He had a stint with Rajasthan Royals, then was acquired by Sunrisers Hyderabad, but rarely featured for SRH. In the Vijay Hazare Trophy, he took nine dismissals in five games, and with his best figures at 3/24.
The likes of Robin Minz, Sushant Mishra and Manav Suthar were bought for ₹3.6 crore, ₹2.2 crore and ₹20 lakhs respectively.
List of players acquired by GT:
Azmatullah Omarzai: ₹50 lakhs
Umesh Yadav: ₹5.8 crore
Shahrukh Khan: 7.4 crore
Spencer Johnson: ₹10 crore
Robin Minz: ₹3.6 crore
Sushant Mishra: ₹2.2 crore
Kartik Tyagi: ₹60 lakh
Human Beauty: ₹20 lakhs
Retained: Shubman Gill (c), Rashid Khan, David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Mohammed Shami, Matthew Wade, Wriddhiman Saha, Kane Williamson, Abhinav Manohar, B Sai Sudharsan, Darshan Nalkande, Vijay Shankar, Jayant Yadav, Noor Ahmad, R Sai Kishore, Josh Little, Mohit Sharma.