Eoin Morgan lost hope after Afridi went unsold

Exciting Irish batsman Eoin Morgan said tracking Tuesday's Indian Premier League auction was a "nerve-racking" experience and he had given up all hopes when he saw Shahid Afridi going unsold.

The 23-year-old Dubliner said he initially had no plans to follow the auction, but sleep eluded him and he tracked it online in what turned out to be quite an experience.

"I was at home watching it on the Internet. I hadn't planned to watch it and my housemate said he would watch for me, but I couldn't sleep this morning and I came in about 15 minutes before my pool," said the Irishman, who was snapped up by Royal Challengers Bangalore for $220,000.

"It was nerve-racking. It was weird, it was like playing Championship Manager, watching the text come up," Morgan was quoted as saying by The Guardian.

The left-hander, who occasionally keeps wicket, said he was even more tense when he saw a proven Twenty20 specialist like Shahid Afridi going unsold in the auction.

"The big shock for me was Shahid Afridi. After seeing him not get a gig, I thought I would struggle but once it came up that Bangalore had bid for me I knew I was sorted," he said.

The middlesex player will join Englishman Kevin Pietersen in the Bangalore side and he felt the team, which finished runners-up in last year's IPL, looks formidable.

"I don't know many of their Indian players, but have seen them play, as I watched the previous IPLs. They have a very strong side, with the likes of Kevin Pietersen, Jesse Ryder and Jacques Kallis," Morgan said.