In January, after Romario Shepherd smashed an unbeaten 44 from just 28 balls to take the West Indies within one run of England’s total of 171, he revealed that he hoped his heroics would get him noticed for the upcoming IPL Mega Auction that was held this weekend.

For the past three years, Shepherd had registered for the draft in the richest T20 league in the world but there were no takers. However, he never gave up hope.

"Eventually, if an IPL contract comes, that would be great for me. I'm not saying that I don't think about it - I do think about it, but I try not to think about it during a game,” he said then.

"It's a great platform. For any youngster, it's their dream to go to the IPL and I'm no different. I'm trying my best to get myself in there. It's something that I've dreamed about for a very long time. My name was in the [auction] for the last three years, so this year, I'm looking forward to it."

That dream became reality on Sunday when during the second day of the auction, he was sold to the Sunrisers Hyderabad for a whopping US$1.03 million dollars.

His was the highest bid for a West Indies player on the second day when several Caribbean players were the beneficiaries of six-figure contracts for the 2022 season of the Indian Premier League.

The big-hitting allrounder Odean Smith, who also made an impression during the series against England, was sold to the Punjab Kings for approximately US$798,000 while Rovman Powell was sold to the Delhi Capitals for US$345,000.

Evin Lewis, who missed the series was sold to the Lucknow Super Giants for US$266,000. Dominic Drakes was told to the Gujarat Titans for US$146,000 and Sherfane Rutherford will join the Royal Challengers Bangalore for US$133,000.

Fabian Allen went for US$99,000 to the Mumbai Indians.