Ireland’s 23-year-old left-arm pacer Josh Little gets big bucks in the IPL mini auction on December 23. Gujarat Titans, the reigning IPL champions, hired his services for INR 4.4 crore.
Little received the deal on his base price of INR 50 lakh, which was 8.8 times higher than his set base price.
The final bid made him the first Irish player to sign a deal for any IPL side. Little made his international debut for Ireland in 2016, and he has since appeared in 22 ODIs and 53 T20Is, taking 33 and 63 wickets, respectively.
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However, technically he is not the first Irish player to be part of the IPL. Before him, it was England’s 2019 World Cup-winning captain, Eoin Morgan, who represented Ireland’s national side before routing for the England cricket team, but Morgan got his IPL contract as an English player.
Little made his ODI debut in May 2019 in Dublin against England, taking 4-45 in a devastating period of pace bowling that saw him dismiss three of the top four hitters, including the captain at the time, Eoin Morgan, for a duck.
Earlier this month, he was also drafted in the Pakistan Super League side Multan Sultans.
The pacer’s most recent bowling performances for Ireland came against New Zealand in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, where he picked up a hat trick by dismissing Kiwi skipper Kane Williamson, Mitch Santner, and Jimmy Neesham.
Overall, he accounted for 11 wickets in the tournament and became only the second bowler from his nation to ever pick a hat-trick.
Cricket Ireland informed Little and the IPL 2023 organiser that a No Objection Certificate (NOC) will be provided shortly to Little, allowing him to take part in the entire season.
However, there will be an exception for the three World Cup Super League ODIs to be played by Ireland against Bangladesh in May 2023. With 30 points on the line, the European team will have the opportunity to automatically qualify for the ODI World Cup in India later that year by earning those points. Currently, Little is the pace-spearhead of the Irish side.
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