The hype might have been about Twenty20 superstars like Shahid Afridi and Chris Gayle being sold for the highest prices, but it was the handful of local cricketers who walked away happiest from the players' auction of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) that was held yesterday.
The six franchises filled up their squads, quite content with the four-and-a-half hours of bidding taking place at the Radisson Hotel in the city where player earnings in the country got a massive boost with Nasir Hossain racking up Tk 1.68 crore.
Nasir, who was snapped up by Khulna Royal Bengals, was over the moon in his instant reaction. "I was at practice so I couldn't catch it live. Our team official Pavel bhai told me about the price I drew. I am really very happy, I can't really tell you what it's like," he said from the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur where he was training with his Dhaka Premier League club Gazi Tank.
His bidding was greeted with raucous applause outside the auction room. The presence of four of the six icons, former cricketers, coaches including the foreign staff, members from the franchises and the media gave the IPL-like auction a festive mood.
The prized pair of Gayle and Afridi drew the longest bidding war with the Pakistani all-rounder being called at 500,000 dollars by five franchises. In the end, Dhaka won the battle with 700,000 dollars for Afridi while Barisal outbid Rajshahi for Gayle with 551,000 dollars though the players themselves won't get paid more than 500,000 dollars. Both however will be paid through the pro-rata basis, i.e., paid according to availability as both will appear for only a few days in the BPL.
But the biggest beneficiaries were the local boys who pocketed a total sum of 2.38 million dollars from the auction. The case for the icon players hasn't been settled yet as some of the franchises haven't agreed on giving the Bangladesh stars five per cent more than the foreigners in their squads. It is likely that the icons will get five per cent more than the local players in their squads.
"We are yet to settle this issue but definitely icon players will get their due honour," said Sirajuddin Mohammad Alamgir, secretary of the BPL governing body.
Among the auctioned local cricketers, all-rounder Nasir was snapped up for 200,000 dollars while the Chittagong Kings took Mahmudullah Riyad and Jahurul Islam for 110,000 dollars each.
Naeem Islam (90,000 dollars), Abdur Razzak and Nazimuddin (85,000), Mithun Ali and Shuvogoto Hom Chowdhury (80,000) and Elias Sunny (75,000) were the other significant buys while Junaed Siddiqui, Rubel Hossain, Shafiul Islam, Forhad Reza, Mosharraf Rubel, Alauddin Babu, Enamul Haque Jr, Imrul Kayes and Nazmul Islam Apu were bought for between 70,000 and 50,000 dollars.
Mithun, who has been in tremendous form in domestic cricket this season, was willing on the auctioneer when the franchises began the bidding.
"I was just returning from Sylhet where I had played for Bangladesh A. I stood at the airport and was asking them to raise the money a bit more!" said Mithun.
"I am really very happy, but I think it has to do with my form this season. [Sarwar] Imran sir called me up from the auction and congratulated me," he added.
Twenty-three other local cricketers were bought for 20,000 dollars, the base price in Category C, with the likes of Nabil Samad, Talha Jubair and Mizanur Rahman winning the prized contracts after being last-minute additions to the locals' list.
Finally, twenty-eight local players remained unsold among whom Tigers pair Rokibul Hasan and Shahadat Hossain were the notable names.
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