PKL auction 2018: Iranian Fazel becomes costliest foreign player
Bengaluru Bulls and Jaipur Pink Panthers were involved in an intense bidding war for Fazel, with U Mumba ultimately bidding Rs.100 lakh and securing him.
Published : May 30, 2018 19:35 IST
U Mumba, the winner of PKL 2015 (PKL 2), broke the bank for Iranian left-corner defender Fazel Atrachali, bidding Rs 100 lakh (five times his base price of Rs 20 lakh) for his services.
It broke the previous record of Rs 93 lakh that UP Yoddhas paid for Nitin Tomar last season. ( The record books were rewritten later in the evening as Jaipur Pink Panthers bid a whopping Rs. 1.15 crore for all-rounder Deepak Hooda. )
Bengaluru Bulls and Jaipur Pink Panthers were involved in an intense bidding war for Fazel, who played for Gujarat Fortunegiants in PKL V and was among the two Category A defenders, with U Mumba ultimately bidding the highest and securing him.
U Mumba owner Ronnie Screwvala, speaking to the media after securing Fazel, said, “We wanted to be strong in defence. We had an extremely strong defence in season 1 and season 2 and that was part of the reason why we bid for Fazal so fiercely. Fazal is someone who has played with us and we are quite happy to have him back. We wanted to be sure that we got who we wanted rather than going right till the end and then have to hastily pick a player. You need a minimum of two international players, instead we picked three. We are happy to have the ex-Iranian coach, Golan Raza as our coach and his insight helps us to cherrypick international talent right in the beginning.”
Fazel, reacting to being bought by U Mumba, conveyed his delight.
Abolfazl Maghsodloumahali (Raider) and Hadi Tajik (Defender right-corner) were the two other Iranians who U Mumbai bought for Rs 21.25 lakh and Rs. 11 lakh respectively.
Defender Abozar Mohajermighani of Iran, bought for Rs 76 lakh by Telugu Titans, was the second-most expensive overseas player at the PKL VI auction.
Jang Kun Lee (Raider, Republic of Korea) became the first player to be bought by a franchise using the Final Bid Match (FBM) option, Bengal Warriors exercising one of its two FBMs to match Haryana Steelers’ bid of Rs. 33 lakh.
Bengal Warriors shelled out Rs. 33.25 lakh for Bangladeshi Left-cover defender Ziaur Rahman.
Tamil Thalaivas picked up the Republic of Korea duo, Chan Sik Park and Jae Min Lee (both Left-corner defenders in Category C), for their base price of Rs. 8 lakh.
Kenyan raider David Mosambayi was bought for Rs. 10 lakh by inaugural PKL champion Jaipur Pink Panthers, which also secured Young Chang Ko (Left-cover defender from Republic of Korea) for Rs. 11.4 lakh.
Category C all-rounders Dong Gyu Kim (Republic of Korea), Makoto Sawazu (Japan), Michael Spiczko (Poland), Mohammad Maghshoudulu (Bangladesh), defenders Jaepil Jo (Republic of Korea), raiders Lal Mohar Yadav (Nepal) and Md. Masud Karim (Bangladesh) were among the overseas players who went unsold.
List of overseas players sold |
| Fazel Atrachali (U Mumba, Rs 100 lakh), Abozar Mohajermighani (Telugu Titans, Rs 76 lakh), Jang Kun Lee (Bengal Warriors, Rs 33 lakh, FBM,), Ziaur Rahman (Bengal Warriors, Rs 33.25 lakh), Hadi Oshtorak (Gujarat Supergiants, Rs 12 lakh), Farhad Rahimi (Telugu Titans, FBM), Abolfazl Maghsodloumahali (U Mumba, Rs 21.25 lakh), Sanjay Shrestha (Puneri Paltan, Rs 8 lakh), Seong Ryeol Kim (UP Yoddha, Rs 8.2 lakh), Patrick Nzau (Haryana Steelers, Rs 8 lakh), Takamitsu Kono (Puneri Paltan, Rs 8 lakh), Jae Min Lee (Tamil Thalaivas, Rs 8 lakh), Sulieman Kabir (UP Yoddha, Rs 8 lakh), Gyung Tae Kim (Bengaluru Bulls, Rs 8 lakh), Hyunil Park (Patna Pirates, Rs 8 lakh), Md. Zakir Hossain (Haryana Steelers, Rs 8.4 lakh), David Mosambayi (Jaipur Pink Panthers, Rs 10 lakh), Khomsan Thongkham (Dabang Delhi, Rs 8 lakh), Hadi Tajik (U Mumba, Rs 11 lakh), Dong Ju Hong (Bengaluru Bulls, Rs 8 lakh), Taedeok Eom (Patna Pirates, Rs 11.4 lakh), Young Chang Ko (Jaipur Pink Panthers, Rs 11.4 lakh), Dong Geon Lee (Gujarat Fortunegiants, Rs 17.2 lakh), Chan Sik Park (Tamil Thalaivas, Rs 8 lakhs) |
List of overseas players unsold (as of day one) |
| Dong Gyu Kim, Makoto Sawazu, Michael Spiczko, Mohammad Maghshoudulu, Jaepil Jo, Lal Mohar Yadav, Md. Masud Karim, Lahiru Kosala, Mohammad Shazid Hossain, Milinda Chaturaga, Md. Fatin Fuhad, Piotr Pamulak, Filip Szczeski, Md. Sabuj Mia, Bassy Rudy Jonathan, Mugilan Batumalai, Waleed Al Hasani, Chrispine Otieno, Halus Suandana, Chia-Ming Chang, Tin Phonchoo, Khateravan Mariappan, Ranidu Chamara |