RIYADH: Seam bowlers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Deepak Chahar attracted top prices Monday in the Indian Premier League’s second and final day player auction, after staggeringly big bids broke records.
Veteran fast bowler Kumar went to Royal Challengers Bengaluru for $1.27 million, while Chahar went to Mumbai Indians for $1.09 million in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah.
Rishabh Pant broke the auction record on day one when Lucknow Super Giants got the star wicketkeeper for a whopping $3.20 million, while Punjab Kings snapped up Shreyas Iyer for $3.17 million also on Sunday.
The final day began with a string of unsold players and some frugal buys, before South African left-arm quick Marco Jansen went to Punjab for $830,000.
Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer shatter IPL pay record with eye-watering deals
The focus then turned to Indian quicks.
Mukesh Kumar went to Delhi Capitals for $942,000, while pace bowler Akash Deep went to Lucknow for the same price.
Five-time champions Mumbai went big for Chahar, before securing 18-year-old Afghan spinner Allah Ghazanfar for $569,000.
“Very happy at this position because we have got our playing XII,” Mumbai owner Akash Ambani said.
New Zealand’s veteran Kane Williamson and all-rounder Glenn Phillips both went unsold, although they may be brought back later.
The IPL is a huge earner for Indian cricket and the tournament makes more than $11 billion for the economy each year.
The pioneering IPL helped make Twenty20 cricket hugely popular, spawning copycat events worldwide.
Dates for next year’s IPL have not been released but seasons usually run from March to May.
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