The Kolkata franchise, owned by Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan, purchased two Pakistanis, Salman Butt (100,000 dollars) and Mohammad Hafeez (100,000 dollars) besides India juniors Siddarth Kaul and Iqbal Abdullah for multi-million-dollar Twenty20 event Indian Premier League (IPL) on Tuesday.
Dimitri Mascarenhas also signed to play and becoming the first Englishman to be involved in mega event. The all-rounder was snapped up by the Jaipur franchise for 100,000 dollars in the second auction of players for the eight city teams taking part in the 44-day, 59-match extravaganzza across India from April 18 "Dimitri was allowed to play by his county Hampshire," IPL commissioner Lalit Modi told reporters.
Twenty-eight players from six countries were bought in the second auction organised by the Indian cricket board, adding to the 75 stars purchased on February 20.
Five top Indians -- Sachin Tendulkar (Mumbai), Sourav Ganguly (Kolkata), Rahul Dravid (Bangalore), Yuvraj Singh (Mohali) and Virender Sehwag (Delhi) -- were not auctioned. They will lead their respective city teams and earn 15 percent more than the highest-paid player in their side.
Among the players auctioned on Tuesday, Pakistan batsman Misbah-ul Haq went to Bangalore for 125,000 dollars while Australian all-rounder Shane Watson was picked up by Jaipur for the same amount. Fourteen members of India's under-19 team which won the junior World Cup in Malaysia earlier this month will also take part in the IPL for a flat fee of 30,000 dollars each.
Besides Misbah, Bangalore also signed Indian under-19 captain Virat Kohli, Bangladesh's left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak (50,000 dollars), New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor (100,000 dollars) and under-19 wicket-keeper Shreevats Goswami. Jaipur picked up, along with Mascarenhas and Watson, South African fast bowler Morne Morkel (60,000 dollars), Pakistan seamer Sohail Tanvir (100,000 dollars) and India juniors Taruwar Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja.