IPL 2024 Auction: Who is Sameer Rizvi? CSK buys ‘right-handed Suresh Raina’ for Rs 8.4 crore

Uttar Pradesh’s young batter Sameer Rizvi became a millionaire at the IPL 2024 auction in Dubai on Tuesday (December 19) as the MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings (CSK) signed him up for Rs 8.4 crore.

The 20-year-old Rizvi’s base price at the IPL 2024 auction was Rs 20 lakh. And, his winning bid was 42 times his reserve price. He is from Meerut and has played for India B Under-19 team and made his T20 debut in October 2022.

Ahead of the auction, Rizvi was much talked about by former Indian cricketers including Suresh Raina, who hails from the same state as Rizvi’s – Uttar Pradesh.

In the UP T20 League, right-handed batter Rizvi hit the most number of sixes in the tournament. He scored 455 runs including two centuries in 9 innings at a strike rate of 189.

Former India Test cricketer Abhinav Mukund said that one of the IPL talent scouts had told him that Rizvi is “right-handed Suresh Raina”.

“One of the IPL scouts actually told me that he was the right-handed Suresh Raina. The areas that he hits against spin are similar and many teams might go after him,” Abhinav Mukund said during the IPL 2024 mock auction on Jio Cinema.

Another ex-India batter – Aakash Chopra hailed Rizvi’s ability to hit sixes. “I was watching the UP T20 League and he has done well there and can hit big sixes,” Chopra said.

Raina said, “Sameer Rizvi has a different intent in his batting. He would get a lot of confidence if he gets to play for an UP team. He is a Badoni-type player but plays with a straighter bat.”