MUMBAI: The Indian Street Premier League (ISPL) held its inaugural player auction at the Jio Convention Centre on Sunday. The tennis ball T10 cricket tournament saw 96 players selected from a pool of 350 hopefuls.
The inaugural edition of ISPL is scheduled to run from March 6th to 15th at the Dadoji Kondadev Stadium in Thane. Tickets will be available on Book My Show beginning February 29th.
East Zone all-rounder Abhishek Kumar Dalhor stole the spotlight by commanding a price tag of Rs 27 lakh, far beyond his base price of Rs 3 lakh. The Amitabh Bachchan-owned ‘Majhi Mumbai’ secured his services.
‘Bangalore Strikers’, owned by Hrithik Roshan, made significant acquisitions as well, including the seasoned all-rounder Saroj Paramanik for Rs 19 lakh and the promising wicketkeeper-batter Sharik Yasir, all of 14 years old, the youngest player in the auction pool, for Rs 3.2 lakh. Meanwhile, ‘Chennai Singams’, under the ownership of Surya, strengthened their line-up with the addition of left-handed batter Sumeet Dhekale, the 37-year-old, for Rs 19 lakh and other notable talents.
Emerging stars also had their moment to shine, with franchises demonstrating a forward-looking approach by investing in youth talent. Uzair Shaikh, a standout in the U19 category, fetched a commendable Rs 5.8 lakh, joining ‘Tiigers Of Kolkata’, owned by Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor Khan.
The auction day culminated in a total expenditure of Rs 4.91 cr by the six franchises.
Chennai Singams acquire 16 players for Rs96.4l
The Chennai Singams team, with a purse of Rs 1 crore, bought 16 players for an amount of Rs 96.4 lakhs, making the team the highest bidder at the auction. Representing Chennai Singams were co-owners Rajdipkumar Gupta and the core team consisting of Rahul Pandey, Ashish Jaiswal, and Sandeep Jaiswal.
Highlights
ü Abhishek Kumar Dalhor becomes most expensive buy at inaugural ISPL auction; sold to Amitabh Bachchan-owned ‘Majhi Mumbai’ for INR 27 lakh
ü Sharik Yasir, the youngest player in the auction at just 14 years old, was bought for INR 3.2 lakh by ‘Bangalore Strikers’ owned by Hrithik Roshan
ü A total of INR 4.91 Cr was spent by all the six franchises with ‘Chennai Singams’ team ending up spending the most with INR 96.4 Lakhs
