IPL 2024: Shashank Singh adds to his reputation with another fine knock

Over the years, the Indian Premier League (IPL) has introduced many young player to the cricket world, giving opportunities to the players to shine on one of the biggest stages in franchise cricket.

The sixth match of the IPL 2024 between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Punjab Kings saw the introduction of Shashank Singh. Punjab were trying to post a big score at Chinnaswamy Stadium but after 19 overs had reached only 150 runs.

But Shashank, the player in the auction that Punjab reportedly bought by mistake, grabbed the match by its neck and turned things in favour of his team in the last over. He smashed an 8-ball unbeaten 21 to take PBKS to a defendable total against RCB in the high-octane clash.

Shashank flicked and hammered West Indies pacer Alzarri Joseph for a brace of sixes in the final over, before slashing a four past the short third man to take 20 runs off the last over and helped Punjab reach 176/6 in their 20 overs.

On Thursday, the right-hand batter enhanced his reputation with an unbeaten 61 that helped his team to victory over Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium.

It was claimed that the Punjab Kings’ management had bought the ‘wrong’ Shashank Singh for Rs 20 lakh, picking up the 32-year-old who plays for Chattisgarh, instead of a 19-year-old batter with a similar name that they had originally planned to rope in.

PBKS later said that there were two players named Shashank Singh in the auction pool. So, as soon as Shashank’s name came up, team co-owner Preity Zinta placed a bid at the base price of Rs 20 lakh. As the other teams did not show any interest in him, Punjab won the bid and Shashank came their way.

The confusion arose after that as Punjab Kings attempted to get the bid overturned and change the player. But later Punjab clarified on the issue and claimed that Shashank Singh from Chhattisgarh was always their target in the auction.

Before the explosive inning of 61 against GT on Thursday, Shashank had played a total of 56 T20 matches in professional cricket, scoring 761 runs with the help of five half-centuries and a strike rate of 135.58. Shashank has also been a part of Delhi Daredevils (now Capitals), Sunrisers Hyderabad, and Rajasthan Royals in IPL.

At the domestic level, after spending one season in Puducherry in 2018–19 and three seasons out of the game due to frustration, Shashank relocated to Chhattisgarh, where he has been a consistent player in all formats.

He was instrumental in Chhattisgarh’s first-ever domestic cricket victory over Mumbai. He became the first Indian player to score more than 150 runs and claim five wickets in the same List-A match against Manipur during the 2023–24 season. He has played 21 FC matches and scored 858 runs.