PANAJI
There is huge disappointment for Goa’s cricket fans. For the second consecutive year, Goa will go unrepresented in the high-profile Indian Premier League (IPL).
When the IPL auction took place in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, all the three cricketers registered with Goa Cricket Association - Suyash Prabhudessai, Abhinav Tejrana and Lalit Yadav “ went unsold. All of them had registered for a base price of Rs. 30 lakh.
About 1390 players had registered for the auction, of which 350 players (240 Indian and 110 Overseas) were shortlisted, but only 77 slots were available, including 31 for overseas players, across the 10 teams.
28-year-old Suyash Prabhudessai has been among Goa's top run-scorer in domestic cricket. He was the captain of Goa in the recently held Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament and had hit three consecutive half centuries in that tournament, that too against quality opposition “ 75 not out against Madhya Pradesh, 51 not out against Jammu and Kashmir and 79 against Bihar.
But unfortunately, he went unsold for the second consecutive IPL season.
Suyash had previously played in IPL for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) for three consecutive seasons from 2022 to 2024. In 2021, he was picked by RCB, but did not get to play any IPL match.
In 11 IPL matches, Suyash has scored 126 runs at an average of 12.6 with his highest score being 34.
Apart from Suyash, Abhinav Tejrana, originally a Delhi boy, who has moved his base to Goa since 2021 had also registered himself for IPL auction 2026. The 25-year-old cricketer, is among Goa’s highest run getters in Ranji Trophy elite division this season with 651 runs from five matches, at an average of 93. He has scored three hundreds, which includes a double century (205) against Chandigarh at home. In the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament, he hit two fifties against Uttar Pradesh (75) and Madhya Pradesh (55). But unfortunately, he also went unsold.
Another cricketer registered with Goa Cricket Association; Lalit Yadav also went unsold. Lalit had previously played 27 matches in IPL for Delhi Capitals (DC) for four consecutive seasons from 2021 to 2024. Like Abhinav, Lalit, 28, is also originally from Delhi but plays for Goa this Ranji season. In the recently concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament, Lalit had scored 275 runs from seven matches with impressive knocks of 85 not out against Hyderabad and 82 not out against Chandigarh.
Long before Suyash had made his IPL debut, Swapnil Asnodkar was the first Goan cricketer to play in IPL. He played in IPL 2008 and 2009 for Rajasthan Royals as an opening batsman.
After Swapnil, Shadab Jakati was the next Goan cricketer to play in IPL. The slow left-arm orthodox spinner made his IPL debut for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in 2009.
Infact, Jakati is the only player from Goa who has played for three franchises - Chennai Super Kings, Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Gujarat Lions in the IPL.
In fact, Shadab was a key figure in Chennai Super Kings' winning campaign in 2010 and 2011 editions of IPL wherein he took 13 and 10 wickets respectively. Later, Jakati was picked up by Royal Challengers Bengaluru in 2014 and Gujarat Lions in 2016 and 2017.
