Arjun Tendulkar, son of cricketing icon, Sachin, was the biggest buy at the T20 Mumbai League auctions as the 19-year-old got picked by Akash Tigers Mumbai Western Suburb for Rs 5 lakh.
Sujit Naik was the other player who went for Rs 5 lakh to the Bandra Blasters.
An intense bidding session between the eight franchises saw the Triumph Kings (Mumbai North East) initially bid Rs 4.5 lakh for Arjun, who was drafted in the auction for the first time at a base price of Rs 1 lakh, but North Mumbai Panthers raised it to Rs 5 lakh.
However, as per rule, the two new teams -- Akash Tigers and Eagle Thane Strikers -- were given the option to avail the Opportunity to Match (OTM). Eventually, it was Akash Tigers which bagged him.
Arjun, who put up an impressive display in the DY Patil T20 Cup, was rewarded with a selection in Mumbai’s U-23 team for a domestic one-day competition.
READ: Sachin Tendulkar hopeful of World Cup coming to India
Arjun, an all-rounder, has earlier featured in Mumbai's U-14, U-16 and U-19 levels. He also made it to India's U-19 team last year and featured in a game against Sri Lanka.
Although a total of 197 players were initially up for auction, seven India U-19 players, including Yashasvi Jaiswal, missed out as they would be busy with the NCA Zonal camp during the tournament.
Aditya Tare, Sarfaraz Khan (Eagle Thane Strikers), Dhawal Kulkarni and Shams Mulani (Aakash Tigers Mumbai Western Suburbs) were chosen by the two new franchises in the eight-team affair.
However, in the middle of the auction, North Mumbai Panthers franchise raised objection, claiming it was not informed about the player retention policy for the two new teams. Though the auction process halted for a while, the organisers resolved the issue later.
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