Ravi Bopara gone unsold in IPL 2014

Ravi Bopara had gone unsold during the IPL auctions in 2014 and he perhaps would have expected the same to happen to him again, but, that was not the case to be. He was actually picked by the Sunrisers Hyderabad today.

The former Australian player Tom Moody is the coach of the Sunrisers at the moment and it’s him who makes all the calls for them.

Moody is somebody who has been a professional coach for a long, long time and he does not believe in chasing those big, flashy names. He knows he needs to get utility players in to build a team and thus, he spends money very sensibly.

He would get some handy lower order batting from Bopara and a couple of tight overs with the ball too and the Kent all rounder did not cost him much either.  So, it was a brilliant pick.

And, apart from Bopara, Moody grabbed the current England One Day International captain Eoin Morgan too.

Morgan had decided to remain out of the previous year’s auction as he wanted to concentrate on his game in the longer versions, but, he got himself involved this year and straightaway got a buyer. That had to happen though given Morgan’s stature as a batsman in white ball Cricket.

The Sunrisers have never won the IPL so far. To be fair, they have been added to the league quite late. They just have two seasons under their belt and in one of them, they had reached the playoffs, but, 2014 was not great for them at all. So, they did some shuffling, got a few players released which allowed them to spend that much money in the auctions.

Having bought some good players now, Moody would hope that his team manages to do something special in IPL 8.