India Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane and his Mumbai teammate Suryakumar Yadav went under the hammer for Rs 7 lakh each as they were picked in the auction by Mumbai North and Mumbai North East teams as their icon players respectively on Saturday for the upcoming T20 Mumbai League.
The players’ auction for the league, which will be held at the Wankhede Stadium from March 11 to 21, also saw stand-in India limited over skipper Rohit Sharma being bought by Mumbai North West for Rs 6 lakh as their icon player.
Sharma, however, will be leading the national team in Sri Lanka in the T20 tri-series in the absence of regular captain Virat Kohli. He is unlikely to play in the event as it clashes with the tri-series that is scheduled from March 6-18.
Another India player Shreyas Iyer was bagged by Mumbai North Central for Rs 5 lakh as their icon player. Iyer is not part of the India T20 team to Lanka.
Senior all-rounder Abhishek Nayar was chosen by Mumbai South as their icon player for Rs 4 lakh, while Mumbai’s consistent middle-order batsman Siddhesh Lad went to Mumbai South Central for Rs 4 lakh as their icon player.
Prithvi Shaw, who led India colts to the U-19 World Cup triumph for a record fourth time last month, was snapped up by Mumbai North for Rs 2.80 lakh, while former India pacer Dhawal Kulkarni was reeled in by Mumbai North East for Rs 1.50 lakh. Each team had to pick an icon player and five players who had featured in the First Class cricket compulsorily from the available pool of cricketers.
Mumbai North Central have appointed former India stumper Sameer Dighe as their mentor.
Former India batsman Vinod Kambli will be the mentor of Mumbai South Central. Lalchand Rajput will don that role for the Mumbai North East squad.
Ex-chief selector Sandeep Patil will team up with his 1983 World Cup-winning team member Balwinder Singh Sandhu on the support staff of Mumbai North as the team’s mentor and coach, respectively.
Former Mumbai stalwart Amol Muzumdar will be the mentor of the Mumbai North West team.
The T20 league is being organised by Probability Sports India Pvt Ltd under the aegis of the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA).
Teams with icon player, mentor and coach:
Mumbai North West: Icon player Rohit Sharma (Rs 6 lakh); mentor Amol Muzumdar; coach Omkar Salvi.
Mumbai North: Icon player Ajinkya Rahane (Rs 7 lakh); mentor Sandeep Patil; coach Balwinder Singh Sandhu.
Mumbai North Central: Icon player: Shreyas Iyer (Rs 5 lakh); mentor Sameer Dighe; coach Vinayak Samant.
Mumbai South: Icon player: Abhishek Nayar (Rs 4 lakh); coach Amit Dani.
Mumbai North East: Icon player: Suryakumar Yadav (Rs 7 lakh); mentor Lalchand Rajput; coach Atul Ranade.
Mumbai South Central: Icon player: Siddesh Lad (Rs 4 lakh); mentor Vinod Kambli; coach Vinod Raghavan.
(With PTI inputs)