India and IPL legend Harbhajan Singh may have found it difficult to find a taker in the IPL for the first time since the competition began in 2008, but there’s at least one “Bhajji” for whom Thursday’s auction has brought a windfall. Karnataka all-rounder K Gowtham, an off-spinner nicknamed Bhajji after his idol, saw his stock rise from a base price of 20 lakh to finally be bought by CSK for 9.25 crore, and finish the night as the most expensive Indian player to be bought.
He set another record too, becoming the most expensive uncapped player in the history of the league. Krunal Pandya held that distinction earlier when Mumbai Indians (MI) retained him for 8.8 crore in the 2018 auction.
Gowtham, 32, was initially the centre of a bidding war between KKR and SRH, before CSK swooped to conquer. The Karnataka player had been released by Punjab Kings. Despite superb performances for his state from 2017, Gowtham has had a difficult journey in IPL. He was first picked by MI in 2017 but did not get a game. In 2018, RR shelled out 6.2 crore for him and he repaid the faith with some good performances with the ball, taking 11 wickets. The next season saw a drastic slide in form; by 2020 he had been offloaded to Punjab, where he got only two games.
Gowtham, who is currently with the India team as a net bowler for the England series, was coached by famous off-spinner Erapalli Prasanna. His similarity with Harbhajan is so great that in 2008, he was invited by the visiting Australia team to bowl to them at the nets.
His role-model went unsold in the first round of the auction, but Harbhajan, who has won the IPL four times (2013,15,17 and 18), was put back in the mix at the end and KKR claimed him for his base price of 2 crore. Harbhajan hasn’t played competitive cricket since the final of the IPL in 2019.