IPL Auction 2023: Who is Joshua Little? First Irishman to get IPL contract

Joshua Little on Friday became the first Irishman to get an IPL contract as the southpaw was bought for Rs 4.4 crore by Gujarat Titans during the IPL Auction 2023 in Kochi. Little entered the auction at a base price of Rs 50 lakh.

IPL 2023 Auction: Players sold/unsold

Gujarat Titans remained keen on buying Little with his bidding price going up with Lucknow Super Giants also entering the fray. Titans eventually claimed the Irishman with a winning bid of Rs 4.4 crore.

Very happy to be Picked by @gujarat_titans 💙 see you soon guys. pic.twitter.com/aqSiaPBvP5

— Joshua Little (@LitttleJoshua) December 23, 2022

The 23-year-old pacer has been an influential bowler for the Ireland national team and has a hat-trick to his name during the recently concluded T20 World Cup 2022 against New Zealand. He dismissed Kane Williamson, James Neesham, and Mitchell Santner in the penultimate over of the innings to achieve the feat. He only became the sixth bowler to take a hat-trick at a T20 World Cup while finishing with a spell of 3/22. He was the second Irishman to take a World Cup hat-trick behind Curtis Campher.

During the World Cup, he took 11 wickets at an impressive economy rate of 7.00. His average in the format is 20.46 while the overall economy is 7.34.

IPL 2023, Complete squads: GT | SRH | RR | MI | PBKS | CSK | RCB | KKR | LSG | DC

At the IPL 2022, Little joined Chennai Super Kings as a net bowler but left the camp midway through the season as he wasn’t pleased with the way he was treated during his short stint with the four-time champions.

“I was told it was something it wasn’t. I was told before I went that I’m a net bowler, and if someone gets injured then there’s a chance I play,” Little told Cricbuzz. “But I couldn’t bowl when I wanted, I’d get two overs (in training) and think, ‘Two overs, I’m halfway across the world here!’ Maybe I was naive because I played in the Lankan Premier League and T10, I had a good year behind me. I’m an international cricketer; it didn’t seem right.

“When I found out I was a net bowler that was required to bowl at someone when the slingers were tired, I was like ‘get me out of here’ – which is probably why they’ll never have me back because I left after two weeks.”

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