'Foreign players have played till 40': Irfan Pathan questions logic behind 35-year-old star going unsold in IPL Auction

The 35-year-old IPL star had gone unsold twice in the mega-auction in Bengaluru.

Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan on Monday questioned the logic behind Indian Premier League (IPL) great Suresh Raina going unsold at the IPL 2022 mega auction in Bengaluru.

Irfan Pathan

Raina, who is the fourth-highest run-getter in the IPL history and has been part of 13 of the 14 IPL seasons so far, went unsold on day 1 of the mega event. He was recalled during the accelerated session of the auction later on Sunday and garnered no interest again.

Taking to Twitter, Pathan tried to find the logic behind Raina, who is 35, going unsold when in the past foreign players have been picked when they were of a higher age, like Chris Gayle. Pathan felt that Raina could have been pushed by at least one franchise despite a poor return with the bat in 2021 season where he scored only 160 runs in 12 matches at 17.77 with one half-century score.

“Still think Raina could have been pushed. We have seen some foreign players who have played IPL till 40.Raina is 35! One bad season. #MrIPL,” he tweeted.

204 players were sold in the two days of the mega auction in Bengaluru, 67 of then were overseas and rest were from India. Meanwhile 76 players were unsold.

Some of the other big-name players includes Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, South African spinner Imran Tahir and former T20 World Cup-winning captains Eoin Morgan and Aaron Finch.