Jacques Kallis and Adam Gilchrist among most expensive players at the 2016 MCL auction
The player auction for the Masters Champions League took place on Monday behind closed doors at the Grand Midwest hotel in Dubai. 250 former cricketers were in contention for the 90 slots in the six teams which are to fight it out in the showpiece T20 tournament next year.
In the MCL, 6 teams will compete in a round-robin format. Each side will play each other once. The top 4 qualify for semi-finals. The league will be played between January 28 and February 13, in Dubai and Sharjah.
Each franchise had a total purse of $750,000 to spend in the auction for players, and needed to spend at least $550,000. Players were categorised based on their number of international appearances, with base prices starting at $10,000.
They were categorised into four divisions – Icons, A+ players (featuring players who have more than 100 international caps), A players and Associate Players.
All six ‘icon players’ were sold, with Jacques Kallis of Libra Legends attracting the highest price. Close behind him is Adam Gilchrist, the second most valued player, who was snapped up by Sagittarius Soldiers.
As for the Indian superstars, Sourav Ganguly will feature alongside Kallis for the Legends, while Virender Sehwag will appear for Gemini Arabians. The tournament will also feature Murali Kartik, Ramesh Powar, Ajay Ratra and Sunil Joshi, among others.
There were also intense bidding wars among two or more teams for several other players like Andrew Symonds and Brad Hogg. One other issue that came up through the course of the day was that it is now clear that the MCL also includes players who have not yet announced their international retirement
Here is how the teams have shaped up (prices mentioned for those for whom bidding war went up to at least $40,000):
Team Leo
Owner – Manyata Dutt, wife of Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt
Players – Brian Lara (Sold for $100,000), Brendan Taylor (Sold for $70,000), Johan Botha (Sold for $46,000), Herschelle Gibbs (Sold for $40,000), Scott Styris (Sold for $50,000), Heath Streak (Sold for $50,000), James Franklin (Sold for $62,000), Robin Peterson (Sold for $80,000), Fidel Edwards (Sold for $80,000), Ramesh Powar (Sold for $40,000), Hamish Marshall, Kyle Jarvis, Mohammad Tauqir, Neil Carter, Simon Jones, Darren Gough
Virgo Super Kings
Owner – Rhiti Sports (MS Dhoni's management company)
Players – Brett Lee (Sold for $100,000), Neil Mckenzie (Sold for $52,000), Jonty Rhodes (Sold for $40,000), Graeme Smith (Sold for $50,000), Azhar Mahmood (Sold for $50,000), Owais Shah (Sold for $75,000), Dirk Nannes (Sold for $40,000), John Mooney, James Foster, Murali Kartik (Sold for $52,000), Malinga Bandara, Gareth Batty, Hasan Raza, Jacob Oram (Sold for $74,000), Humayun Farhat, Mohammad Yousuf
Gemini Arabians
Owner – Nalin Khaitan
Players – Muttiah Muralitharan (Sold for $120,000), Kyle Mills (Sold for $42,000), Virender Sehwag (Sold for $50,000), Kumar Sangakkara (Sold for $50,000), Saqlain Mushtaq (Sold for $42,000), Jacques Rudolph (Sold for $58,000), Rana Naved ul Hasan, Justin Kemp (Sold for $70,000), Paul Harris, Brad Hodge (Sold for $80,000), Richard Levi (Sold for $152,000), Ashish Bagai, Graham Onions (Sold for $56,000), Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Saqib Ali
Sagittarius Soldiers
Owner – Orange Limited
Players – Adam Gilchrist (Sold for $170,000), Shane Bond, Mahela Jayawardene (Sold for $50,000), Daniel Vettori (Sold for $50,000), Chamara Silva, Ashwell Prince, Khurram Khan, Phil Mustard, Tino Best (Sold for $42,000), Nathan Hauritz, Alviro Peterson, Michael Carberry (Sold for $42,000), Jonathan Trott, Yasir Hameed, Mushtaq Ahmed, Gavin Hamilton
Capricorn Commanders
Owner – Sohail Khan
Players – Paul Collingwood (Sold for $140,000), Andrew Symonds (Sold for $120,000), Michael Vaughan (Sold for $50,000), Abdul Razzaq (Sold for $50,000), Upul Chandana, Ryan Mclaren (Sold for $64,000), Jeetan Patel (Sold for $56,000), Ricki Clarke (Sold for $42,000), Rory Kleinveldt, Krishmar Santokie, Ben Laughlin, Rizwan Cheema, Geraint Jones, Sunil Joshi, Saleem Ilahi
Libra Legends
Owner – Pooja Junjunwala of Pop Corn Sports and Entertainment
Players – Jacques Kallis (Sold for $175,000), Sourav Ganguly, Graeme Swann, Brad Hogg, Ryan ten Doeschate, Ajay Ratra, Chris Read, Sean Ervine, Shaun Tait, Ryan Sidebottom, Taufiq Umar, Michael Lumb, Marcus North, Nicky Boje