Did Dinesh Karthik hint at KKR picking up Shahrukh Khan at the IPL 2021 auction?

The Tamil Nadu cricket team, led by Dinesh Karthik, defeated Baroda by three wickets in the final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021 to win India's premier domestic T20 competition. Notably, this is Tamil Nadu's second SMAT title, with the first coming in 2007 under the captaincy of Karthik as well.

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Dinesh Karthik heaps praise on Tamil Nadu batsman Shahrukh Khan, expects youngster to get sold at IPL 2021 auction

Recently, Karthik opened up about their victory, how they went about in the tournament and also the players to watch out for at the IPL auction. While speaking to ESPNCricinfo, Karthik opened up about one such young batsman named Shahrukh Khan who impressed one and all with his hitting prowess and also perhaps indirectly hinted that the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) could end up picking up the explosive batsman.

Speaking about Shahrukh, Karthik said that the batsman has got pure power. He added that Shahrukh hits the ball long, but the most important thing is when the youngsters got an opportunity, he ensured that he stayed not out in those cases. Karthik reckoned that Shahrukh made it look much easier than what it actually was.

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Shahrukh played eight matches in the competition where he got opportunities to bat only in four innings. In the limited chances he got, Shahrukh scored 88 runs at an average of 88.00 and blistering strike-rate of 220.00 and was dismissed only once. Notably, he hit seven sixes and eight fours in the tournament, thus displaying his dynamic batting range.

The young batter had gone unsold at the previous IPL auction, however, Karthik is sure that he has done enough to get picked at the upcoming IPL 2021 auction and with the wicketkeeper's influence in the KKR camp, it is likely that Shahrukh will be picked by the franchise,

On the other hand, left-arm off-spinner M Siddharth who featured in KKR list of released players 2021 and was also playing his first game of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in the final starred for Tamil Nadu as he grabbed sensational figures of 4/20 to help his side restrict Baroda to a paltry 120/9 in 20 overs. In response, Tamil Nadu chased the target comfortably with two overs and seven wickets to spare. M Siddharth was named the 'Player of the Match' for his match-winning spell.

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The Tamil Nadu spinner was brought by KKR at IPL 2020 auction for his base price of ₹20 lakhs after a successful outing in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in 2019 where he picked up 12 wickets in the tournament. However, Siddharth didn't get an opportunity to showcase his talent in the IPL 2020 and was recently released by KKR, as he was snubbed in favour of his Tamil Nadu teammate Varun Chakravarthy. With his stunning performance in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021 final, the cricketer has surely garnered the attention of franchises ahead of IPL 2021 auction.

KKR list of released players 2021

Tom Banton, Chris Green, Nikhil Naik, M Siddharth, Siddhesh Lad, Harry Gurney and Ali Khan.

Players retained by KKR ahead of IPL 2021 auction 

Eoin Morgan, Dinesh Karthik, Nitish Rana, Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Rahul Tripathi, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Pat Cummins, Prasidh Krishna, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakravarthy, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Tim Seifert

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SOURCE: BCCI DOMESTIC TWITTER