New Delhi - England all-rounder Dimitri Mascarenhas, Australian James Hopes, New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor and South Africa's Ashwell Prince were among the 18 international cricketers up for bids in the second player auction of the Indian Premier League (IPL) held in Mumbai Tuesday, news reports said. Mascarenhas was picked up by Jaipur for 100,000 dollars becoming the first England player to be eligible to play in the league's inaugural Twenty20 tournament in April, IANS news agency reported. The teams are sponsored by eight city franchises.
Mohali, the team from northern Punjab state, bid the highest 300,000 dollars for Hopes in Tuesday's auction and 50,000 for his countryman batsman Luke Pomersbach. It also paid 150,000 dollars for New Zealand bowler Kyle Mills.
South Africa batsman Ashwell Prince fetched 175,000 dollars from Mumbai, while Pakistan fast bowler Misbah-ul Haq was snapped up by Bangalore for 125,000 dollars.
The first round of player auctions on February 20 saw 77 international cricketers go under the hammer with Indian Twenty20 captain MS Dhoni fetching the highest bid of 1.5 million dollars by Chennai followed Andrew Symonds of Australia who was bought for 1.35 million dollars by Hyderabad.
India's under-19 team which won the World Cup recently also went under the hammer in the second round.
Among the other international players, Jaipur signed up South African fast bowler Morne Morkel for 60,000 dollars, Australian all-rounder Shane Watson for 125,000 dollars and Pakistan fast bowler Sohail Tanvir for 100,000 dollars.
Kolkata bought Pakistanis Salman Butt and Mohammad Hafeez for 100,000 dollars each, while Bangalore signed New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor 100,000 dollars and Bangladesh spinner Abdur Razzak for 50,000 dollars.
The tournament, sanctioned by the International Cricket Council, will be played from April 18 to June 1. The teams are from New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Jaipur, Chennai, Chandigarh and Hyderabad.
According to reports, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which is organizing the tournament, has already made close to 1.75 billion dollars solely from the sale of TV rights, promotion and franchises.
