I almost got blanked, it was like hitting a massive wall: Richardson on Rs 14 cr deal by Punjab Kings
Christchurch, Feb 19 (PTI):
Promising Australia fast bowler Jhye Richardson was left “excited as well as exhausted” after he earned a “life-changing” bid of Rs 14 crore from Punjab Kings at the IPL auction.
Richardson, the leading wicket-taker in the Big Bash League this season, was in quarantine in a Christchurch hotel room for the upcoming T20 International series against New Zealand when he tuned into the broadcast of the IPL auction in Chennai on Thursday.
“My name came up and I got this wave of (nausea) just not knowing what to expect. For the first, what to me felt like about 20 minutes, no one put their paddle up and it’s one of those things where you’re just like, ‘Oh no’. You have no idea what’s going to happen,” Richardson was quoted as satying by ‘cricket.com.au’.
“Then the first paddle went up, which was probably (only) like 10 seconds or five seconds (later), but it felt like a lifetime. I feel like I played a game yesterday. I mentally exhausted myself of feeling all these emotions, of feeling sick and excited.”
He said emotions took over and he felt as if he had hit a “massive wall”.
“The emotions just take over and you forget – you double check (the price he was bought for), you triple check it, you quadruple check it. It took a moment and it’s still sinking in at the moment,” said the 24-year-old who was bought at nearly 10 times his base price. “I almost blanked. I was watching it, but I felt like I wasn’t actually watching it. After everything happened you’re obviously really, really excited but then you just hit this massive wall,” said the youngster who has played two Tests, 13 ODIs and nine T20Is since making international debut in 2017.