Kolkata Knight Riders have snatched Shakib Al Hasan for Tk 30 million ($425,000) on the first day of IPL bid for cricketers.
There were high expectations last year with the young all-rounder but frustratingly Shakib remained unsold, but this time the Shahrukh Khan-owned franchise bought him for a bargain price of $425,000 on the first day of the money-spinning auction.
However his Tigers teammate Tamim Iqbal went unsold after the left-handed opener’s name came up late in the auction.
Shakib, whose base price was $200,000, will line up with the likes of the highest paid Gautam Gambhir, Yusuf Pathan, Jacques Kallis, Manoj Tiwary, Brett Lee, Eoin Morgan and Brad Haddin.
Considering Shakib’s recent international performance (he is still the No 1 all-rounder for the successive second year), the Kolkata franchise made a low cost buy to rope in a real asset for their team. Pune made the first bid to get the ball rolling for Shakib and there was a tussle between them and the Kolkata bidders, the latter finally winning the battle.
With the latest success the young Bangladesh skipper, who was the only Bangladeshi player to play County cricket and was a successful performer for Worcestershire, put another feather on his cap to get 2011 off to a bright start.
Mashrafe Bin Mortaza was Bangladesh’s hot pick in the 2009 auction as Knight Riders bought the country’s leading paceman for $650,000.
With the input from The Daily Star
