Chris Woakes: “This is comfortably life-changing”

Image courtesy of: Zimbio

England all-rounder Chris Woakes has admitted that he was delighted to have been bought at the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction last weekend.

Woakes had a base price of INR 2 crores going into the auction, but he was shocked at the bidding war that took place when his name came up.

With so many franchises interested in him, Woakes was eventually sold to the Royal Challengers Bangalore for INR 7.4 crores.

“There were a few things being shouted about on the flight,” Woakes was quoted as saying by CricTracker. “Jason Roy had been sold to Delhi, Stokesy went for a fortune, and we were just waiting for names to come through. It wasn’t until we got onto the bus that my name came through. I saw it come through on an app and I was over the moon. All the lads there and everyone talking about it was a great feeling.”

The 28-year-old, who scored 170 runs and took five wickets in the recent ODI series against Australia, admitted that the INR 7.4 crores he was bought for is “comfortably life-changing”.

“It’s crazy to think as a cricketer you could earn that sort of money for the amount of time you’re going to be playing. It’s mind-boggling really,” he said. “I wasn’t even sure if I’d get picked up. This is comfortably life-changing. Last year I’d just got married and it certainly paid for the wedding, put it that way. It’s great to see English players getting the opportunity to play in it and earn that sort of money.”

However, Woakes admitted it was a shame that some of the other England players like Test captain Joe Root, limited overs skipper Eoin Morgan and opening batsman Alex Hales were overlooked during the auction.

“Of course you have to be sensitive (to those who were unsold) but guys are old enough and wise enough to know that sometimes it is a bit of a lottery,” the Birmingham native said. “You’re not going to go around gloating. We’re all mates and team-mates and we’ll keep that pretty low key.”