Sports
Kami, Pun, Alam, KC light auction
National team cricketers Sagar Pun, Sompal Kami, Karan KC and unpredictable allrounder Mehboob Alam drew the biggest sum as Dhangadi Cricket Academy (DCA) and Sudur Paschimanchal Academy (SPA) on Saturday held cricket’s first ever auction at the national level for the Sagarmatha Cement Dhangadi Premier League (DPL).National team cricketers Sagar Pun, Sompal Kami, Karan KC and unpredictable allrounder Mehboob Alam drew the biggest sum as Dhangadi Cricket Academy (DCA) and Sudur Paschimanchal Academy (SPA) on Saturday held cricket’s first ever auction at the national level for the Sagarmatha Cement Dhangadi Premier League (DPL).
The Twenty20 franchise-based tournament is scheduled to kickoff from March 19 to April 1 with six cities vying for the title that offers a cash prize of Rs 1.5 million. The runners-up will get Rs 700,000 in what is so far the highest cash-prized tournament in Nepali cricket history.
Batting all rounder Pun was brought for Rs 100,000 by Kanchanpur Iconics owned by Pitamber Joshi, while Kami went for the same amount to Kathmandu Goldens, a franchise belonging to Golden Gate International College. CYC Attariya, owned by Creative Youth Club, bought Alam and KC for Rs 100,000 apiece. Biratnagar Kings of Mahalaxmi Cable, Team Chauraha, owned by Rajkumar Shrestha, and Rupandehi Challengers of SR Group are other four franchises who will represent their respective cities.
A total of 217 registered players were kept in auction with each team allowed to purchase 14 players. There was no auction for captains as they were already agreed for a set price of Rs 150,000 apiece. The skippers include national team captain Paras Khadka (Chauraha), Gyanendra Malla (Attariya), Binod Bhandari (Iconics), Shakti Gauchan (Challengers), Sharad Vesawkar (Kings) and Basanta Regmi (Goldens).
Khadka was captivated by the atmosphere created by auction. “The atmosphere today made me feel that I should have born five years late than my actually birth date. Its really exciting to see cricket getting professional by such sort of auction. We still face a challenge to make this tournament bigger,” said Khadka.
National team opener Naresh Budhayer was the next biggest buy, bought for Rs 95,000 by Goldens, while former U-19 team skipper Prithu Baskota and Pradeep Airee were purchased for Rs 90,000 each. While Baskota went to Chauraha, Airee was bought by Attariya.
The players were divided into four different categories with current national team cricketers who have played minimum 15 international matches having a base price of Rs 50,000 in ‘A’ category. The ‘B’ category included national cricketers with less than 15 matches and U-19 World Cup players and had a base price of Rs 30,000.
Former U-19 and age group cricketers were grouped in ‘C’ category with a base price of Rs 25,000 and uncapped players were in ‘D’ category with the bidding price starting from Rs 20,000. The four categories had bidding limitations and in case of multiple bidding, lucky draw were held.
All rounder Sonu Tamang and Sandeep Zohra were the highest earners among uncapped players, sold for Rs 40,000 in an auction ceremony that went for more than eight hours.
Leg spinning sensation Sandeep Lamichhane, who was under the ‘B’ category, was bought by Kings for Rs 60,000, while his U-19 Asia Cup teammate Dipendra Singh Airee went to the same franchise for Rs 80,000. Another exciting batting talent Siddhant Lohani was bought by Iconics for Rs 80,000.
DPL is a merger of SPA Cup Inter-college Cricket and Dhangadi Cricket League (DCL), the franchise based cricket that was organised in the city, also after an auction. DPL will send the top four teams into the qualifying playoffs after a round robin league. The top two teams will play the Qualifier 1 from where the winners will enter the final. The runners-up from Qualifier 1 will meet the winners of the match between third and fourth-placed team to seal a place in the final.