West Indies pacer Sheldon Cottrell and Australia's Nathan Coulter-Nile emerged among the big buys on Thursday in Kolkata in the Indian Premier League 2020 auction. Cottrell was roped in by Kings XI Punjab for INR 8.50 crores while Coulter-Nile will witness a homecoming as defending champions Mumbai Indians roped him in for INR 8 crores.
Coulter-Nile, who has previously played for Kolkata Knight Riders, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Delhi Daredevils and Mumbai, ended the bidding process at a base price of INR 1 crore. Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai entered the bidding war with the battle being bushed to the margin of INR 4 crores. The battle continued before the Aussie emerged as a millionaire before Mumbai roped him in for INR 8 crores.
Coulter-Nile last played for Mumbai in his debut season back in 2013 when he had picked only one wicket in his only appearance that season. Overall, he has 36 wickets in 26 matches at 19.97 an average and economy rate of 7.66.
Cottrell had entered the bidding war at a base price of INR 50 lakhs. Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals had ended the waer before Delhi Capitals joined the war. In the end, Delhi owner Parth Jindal held his white flag leaving Punjab to welcome Cottrell for INR 8.5 crores. IPL 2020 will be Cottrell's debut season in the cash-rich league.
Piyush Chawla, who was released by KKR before the auction, was grabbed by Chennai Super Kings for INR 1.5 crores.
IPL 2020 Auction after lunch...
Mohit Sharma, base price INR 50 lakh, goes unsold
Dale Steyn, base price INR 2 Cr, goes unsold
Jaydev Unadkat, base price INR 1 Cr, sold to RR for INR 3 Cr
Andrew Tye, base price INR 1 Cr, goes unsold
Nathan Coulter-Nile, base price INR 1 Cr, sold to MI for INR 8 Cr
Tim Southee, base price INR 1 Cr, goes unsold
Sheldon Cottrell, base price INR 50 lakh, sold to KXIP for INR 8.50 Cr
Piyush Chawla, base price INR 1 Cr, sold to CSK for INR 6.75 Cr
Ish Shodhi, base price INR 75 lakh, goes unsold
Adam Zampa, base price INR 1.5 Cr, goes unsold
Hayden Walsh, base price INR 50 lakh, goes unsold
Zahir Khan, base price INR 50 lakh, goes unsold
