IPL 2018 auction: 5 biggest steals

#3 - Basil Thampi (Sunrisers Hyderabad): INR 95 lakhs

The only domestic player on this list, Thampi was bought by the Gujarat Lions last auction, and had a cracker of a season, bagging 11 wickets in 12 games and winning the "IPL Emerging Player of the Season" award. He had gotten those wickets through his exquisite way of bowling, which enabled him to swing the ball with deadly accuracy.

Thampi is also known for his fast yorkers, which have tricked the likes of Steve Smith into getting bowled. Since then, he has brought additional tricks up his fast-bowling sleeve, introducing a slow yorker to his game, which has proved to be a killer in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Tournament, when paired up with his fast yorker.

There is no doubt that a fast bowler that can consistently bowl at 140 kph, swing the ball with great accuracy, and has different variations of yorkers isn't worth merely 95 lakh. A very good buy for sure!

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Ethan is currently an analyst on Sportskeeda. A lifelong follower of many sports, he aims to voice his thoughts on arbitrary topics whenever he can. He is currently a university student based in the US and Japan.

He covers MMA, football, cricket, and professional wrestling. As a writer for Sportskeeda, Ethan has had features on 'Football Daily' and 'Viva Barca' to a following of over 11 million people. In his free time, Ethan enjoys listening to niche music, reading nerdy books he barely understands, and writing articles on Sportskeeda (strangely meta).

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