Former India captain Sourav Ganguly who also happens to be the Director Of Cricket at Delhi Capitals (DC) was mightily
impressed with what he saw of Kumar Kushargra during one of the trials in Kolkata. And now it has been revealed by the Jharkhand cricketer's father himself that Ganguly had kept a budget of a whopping 10 Crore rupees for him even before the bidding war had happened.
That tells a story in itself. To put into context, Kushagra's base price was only 20 lakh and Ganguly at DC wanted to go all out for him and hence was willing to pay 50 times that sum, a promise he had made to the player as claimed by his father. Who knew DC had to fetch a hefty amount, quite close to the one the ex-BCCI President had promised to the 19-year-old to give the youngster his maiden IPL contract.
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Sourav Ganguly Saw A Bit Of MS Dhoni In Kumar Kushargra
DC ended up buying the wicketkeeper-batter for Rs 7.2 crore in which Ganguly saw a 'bit of Dhoni'.
"At the trials, Ganguly was impressed with his six-hitting ability and ability to play the field. His keeping skills also impressed Ganguly and even told him that there is a bit of MS Dhoni in him when he whips the bails," he told The Indian Express.
"After the trials at Eden (Gardens), Ganguly told Kushagra that he would play for the Delhi Capitals and the franchise would bid for him till ₹10 crore. I thought he will get picked by the Capitals at base price. For a few minutes, I was so numb. One can only think about miracles, and today was that kind of day. He was confident because Ganguly had promised him, but I thought he must have said this to encourage him," he added.