Murugan Ashwin: What you need to know about IPL player auction's biggest gainer

New Delhi: The biggest surprise at the Indian Premier League 2016 player auction came when Rising Pune Supergiants bought M. Ashwin for price of 4.5 crore.

Until Saturday, not many Indian cricket fans had heard of Murugan Ashwin.

But as the bidding for him progressed, it was clear that team scouts had seen something special in Ashwin. 

This massive jump from a base price of 10 lakh made him the biggest gainer in the Saturday auction. The fact he has played hardly any cricket makes it even more remarkable. 

It appears as though ace India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin had a role to play in his new franchise roping in his namesake.

As skipper of Tamil Nadu, R Ashwin was perhaps impressed with what he saw of the bowler.

Numbers can be misleading in M Ashwin's case, as he has played just 3 first-class and 2 list A games.

However, the spinner's impressive display in the recent Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy forced the Pune management's hand at picking him. 

Here are six interesting facts about the Tamil Nadu cricketer.

1) Ashwin father Era Murugan works as a scriptwriter for Tamil movies.

2) He graduated from the same college - Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar College of Engineering – as R Ashwin.

3) R Ashwin rates the legbreak googly bowler very highly.

Not surprised M Ashwin was sought after by Pune. Highly rated by the other Ashwin!! — Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) February 6, 2016

4) He made his first-class debut against Odisha at Cuttack in November 2012. He has played just 3 first-class matches, taking 1 wicket at an economy rate of 3.67.

5) The 25-year-old made his List A debut for Tamil Nadu against Mumbai in December 2015. He has played just 2 List A games, taking 3 wickets at an economy rate of 5.59.

6) In 6 T20 matches, Ashwin picked up 10 wickets at an average of 12.70 and economy rate of 5.52.