Pawan Sarraf, Aarif Sheikh, Lalit Bhandari, Lalit Rajbanshi, Bhim Sharki and Binod Bhandari were the biggest buys in the Dhangadhi Premier League auction for the third season.
In the auction where emerging stars hit the maximum bid price, six players went for maximum bid of Rs 250, 000. Here we see how the auction unfolded at the Annapurna Hotel in Kathmandu on Saturday for big buys.
1) Pawan Sarraf (Rs 250,000) :
Three teams went for maximum bid for Nepali cricket's emerging star and Sompal Kami’s Dhangadhi Stars got the allrounder via lucky draw. Pawan had excellent Everest Premier League outing with 11 scalps to his name. The 18-year-old had represented Biratnagar Kings last year.
2) Aarif Sheikh (Rs 250,000) :
Another big name to hit maximum bid, four teams had gone after Aarif for a maximum bid and it was Sharad Vesawkar’s Mahendranagar United to get struck by lady luck. Debuting for Nepal back in 2014, Aarif now has been regular member of the national squad for the last 12 months.
3) Lalit Singh Bhandari (Rs 250,000) :
CYC Attariya and Rupandehi Challengers put the bid of maximum price for the left-arm medium pacer with Basant Regmi’s Rupandehi Challengers winning the lucky draw. He has been bowling exceptionally well in all domestic leagues with that nagging fourth stump-line. He was part of tournament winning Team Chauraha Dhangadhi -- now Dhangadhi Stars -- last year.
4) Lalit Narayan Rajbanshi (Rs 250,000) :
Gyanendra Malla-led Kathmandu Goldens was lone maximum bidder for Lalit. He is regularly getting featured in national squad lately with effective left-arm spin bowling. He was part of same Kathmandu Goldens side last year.
5) Bhim Sharki (Rs 250,000) :
Bhim is another young name featuring in this list. Rupandehi Challengers went after him despite not having sufficient amount in the purse and paid a penalty of 25% to acquire his services for this season. Bhim, widely known as ‘Johnty’, has been performing well in all domestic leagues of Nepal.
6) Binod Bhandari (Rs 250,000) :
Hard-hitting wicket-keeper batsman Bhandari, released as the strategic player of Mahendranagar United this season, was chased by all five teams barring Dhangadhi Stars. Challengers were the luckiest one.
Besides them, Pradeep Airee, Sandeep Jhora, Rohit Kumar Paudel, and Bhuwan Karki were other top buys of the day. Pradeep was purchased by Rupandehi Challengers on whopping amount of Rs 240,000. Likewise, Rohit Kumar Paudel and Sandeep Jora got equal Rs 230,000. Rohit went to Mahendranagar United whereas Sandeep was bought by CYC Attariya. CYC Attariya spent Rs 210,000 on Bhuwan Karki.
Earlier, all six participating franchises had announced their strategic players with Karan KC, Basant Regmi and Sharad Vesawkar replacing unavailable Paras Khadka, retired Shakti Guachan and Bhandari respectively.
Every team picked 11 players each from the auction for the third season which begins from February 9 at the Fapla Cricket Ground. Below is the list of players picked by different teams.
Dhangadhi Stars (Sompal Kami)
Pawan Sarraf - 2,50,000
Amit Shrestha - 1,80,000
Sunil Dhamala – 1,80,000
Saurab Khanal – 1,60,000
Bipin Khatri – 95,000
Hari Bahadur Chauhan – 95,000
Dipesh Shrestha – 80,000
Raju Rijal – 75,000
Sandeep Rajali – 40,000
Robeen Chhetri – 35,000
Dhiraj Shahi – 30,000
Kathmandu Goldens (Gyanendra Malla)
Lalit Rajbanshi – 2,50,000
Rashid Khan – 1,70,000
Anil Kumar Sah – 1,70,000
Bikram Kumar Bhusal – 1,60,000
Yogendra Singh Karki – 70,000
Sonu Tamang – 65,000
Mehboob Alam – 50,000
Surya Tamang – 50,000
Nandan Yadav – 50,000
Sudhir Chaudary – 30,000
Avinand Yadav – 30,000
Mahendranagar United (Sharad Vesawkar)
Aarif Sheikh – 2,50,000
Rohit Kumar Paudel – 2,30,000
Avinash Bohora – 1,70,000
Amar Singh Routela – 1,20,000
Sagar Dhakal – 1,00,000
Dilip Nath - 75,000
Siddhant Lohani – 70,000
Shahab Alam – 60,000
Kushal Malla – 50,000
Santosh Bhatt – 30,000
Dipendra Chand – 30,000
Rupandehi Challengers (Basant Regmi)
Lalit Bhandari – 2,50,000
Bhim Sharki – 2,50,000
Binod Bhandari – 2,50,000
Pradeep Airee – 2,40,000
Sandeep Sunar – 1,10,000
Krishna Karki – 1,00,000
Sumit Maharjan – 75,000
Bikram Sob – 60,000
Puran BK – 50,000
Suraj Darai – 30,000
Anil Kharel – 30,000
CYC Attariya (Dipendra Singh Airee)
Sandeep Jhora – 2,30,000
Bhuwan Karki – 2,10,000
Kamal Singh Airee – 90,000
Jitendra Singh Thakuri – 75,000
Ram Naresh Giri – 75,000
Prem Tamang – 50,000
Subendu Panday – 50,000
Rit Gautam – 30,000
Adil Ansari – 30,000
Dipendra Rawat – 30,000
Sugendra Joshi -30,000
Biratnagar Kings (Karan KC)
Aasif Sheikh – 1,80,000
Kushal Bhurtel – 1,60,000
Prithu Baskota – 1,20,000
Sushan Bhari – 1,00,000
Kishor Mahato – 1,00,000
Hari Shankar Shah – 90,000
Samsad Sheikh – 75,000
Rajesh Pulami Magar – 75,000
Amrit Gurung – 30,000
Trit Raj Das – 30,000
Arjun Adhikari – 30,000