Mohammad Nabi becomes first Afghan player to play in IPL

Bengaluru [India], Feb.20 (ANI): All-rounder Mohammad Nabi on Monday became the first Afghanistan player in the Indian Premier League when he was sold to Sunrisers Hyderabad for a base price of Rs. 30 lakh in the IPL Auction at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Bengaluru. Meanwhile, KKR have joined the part with New Zealand pacer Trent Boult for Rs 5 crore. Delhi Daredevils have spent Rs 9.5 crore among two bowlers Kagiso Rabada and Patrick Cummins. After an aggressive bidding between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), England's fast bowling sensation Tymal Mills was eventually sold to RCB for a whopping Rs. 12 crore. Milbecomes the second expensive recruit in the IPL 2017 auction after Ben Stokes, who was sold to Rising Pune Supergiants for whopping 14.5 crore. Former Australia pacer Mitchell Johnson has been bought by Mumbai Indians for his base price of Rs. 2 crore, with Karnataka off spinner and hard-hitting batsman Krishnappa Gowtham also being sold to the Mumbai-based franchise for a whopping Rs 2 crore against his base price of Rs 1 lakh. It seems that Gowtham has gained attention following his good performance in the Karnataka Premier League and Ranji Trophy. West Indies' Nicholas Pooran was also sold to Mumbai Indians for his base price of Rs. 30 lakh. In uncapped batsmen set, Ankeet Bawane was bought by Delhi Daredevils for Rs. 10, 00,000 while Rahul Tewatia sold to Kings XI Punjab for Rs 25 lakh. Indian players Unmukt Chand, Prithvi Shaw, Umang Sharma, Pragyan Ojha all remained unsold while South Africa pacer Kyle Abbott, New Zealand's Ish Sodhi, Australia's Brad Hogg, England's Jonny Bairstow also went unnoticed. In uncapped wicketkeepers set, Delhi Daredevils got their hands on Aditya Tare for Rs. 25 lakh and Sunrisers Hyderabad bought Eklavya Dwivedi for Rs. 75 lakh. A total of 351 players are up for grabs in the auction out of an original pool of 799. Of these, 226 are Indian players and 122 are players with international caps. Six players are from Associate ICC nations. This is the last auction of the 10-year cycle after which all players are set to go back into the auction pool. (ANI)