‘The buyers might have been wary of picking us up’- Kane Richardson explains why he and Adam Zampa went unsold in mega auction

Australian pacer Kane Richardson believes that the reason he and leg-spinner Adam Zampa weren’t picked in the ITL mega auction as the franchises might have been vary of picking the duo. Last year, both players pulled out in the middle of the first phase of the last season due to the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic in India.

After a while, the tournament was suspended until further notice as players from different teams started testing positive. In September and October last year, the league was completed in the United Arab Emirates. Both players were unavailable in the second leg as well. They were replaced by Goerge Garton and Wanindu Hasaranga.

Richardson, who was part of the 2021 World Cup victorious team alongside Zampa, feels that franchises might have thought that both players will pull out again.

“So I think there’d be some kind of buyers that’d be pretty wary of picking us up thinking that we wouldn’t come again. I definitely think that’s a factor. I’m just speaking on what I think would be a factor in it. I don’t know. I’ve never had a dialogue with a franchise or a person that says that’s what would be the case. But I think I didn’t go the year before as well with the birth of my boy,” said Kane Richardson in a conversation with ESPNCricinfo.

The 31-year-old added that he wants to play as much cricket as he can and doesn’t want to carry the reputation of an unavailable player.

“So my reputation probably is that in the last couple of years I haven’t gone so it’s obviously not something that I am. I try and play as much cricket as I can. But I think the circumstances in the last couple of IPLs have made me not go. But it’s not a reputation I want.”