T20 Mumbai League: Arjun Tendulkar picked for Rs 5 lakh

Aakash Tigers Mumbai Western Suburb and Eagle Thane Strikers were given the option to exercise the OTM (Opportunity to Match) after the highest bid was raised to Rs 5 lakh by North Mumbai Panthers

After an intense bidding, Aakash Tigers Mumbai Western Suburb finally picked Arjun Tendulkar for Rs 5 lakh for the second season of the T20 Mumbai League, which is the maximum bid amount. Arjun, the son of cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar, had entered the auction with a base price of Rs 1 lakh and was among the few players in focus. Aakash Tigers Mumbai Western Suburb and Eagle Thane Strikers were given the option to exercise the OTM (Opportunity to Match) after the highest bid was raised to Rs 5 lakh by North Mumbai Panthers. Both the new teams opted to exercise the OTM at Rs 5 lakh after which two cards were placed in a bag and Mumbai Cricket Association ad hoc committee member Unmesh Khanvilkar picked up a card which was of Aakash Tigers and that is how they got Jr Tendulkar. Before the auction, players like Suryakumar Yadav, Akash Parkar (Triumph Knights Mumbai North East), Shivam Dube, Siddhesh Lad (Shivaji Park Lions), Prithvi Shaw (North Mumbai Panthers), Jay Bista and Dhurmil Matkar (SoBo Supersonics), Shubham Ranjane, Tushar Deshpande (Arcs Andheri), Shreyas Iyer, Eknath Kerkar (Namo Bandra Blasters) were retained by the six franchises. 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. Before the auction, it was announced that seven U-19 players including batsman Yashasvi Jaiswal were not available for the league, which begins on May 14 at the Wankhede stadium. Meanwhile, Sujit Naik also fetched Rs 5 Lakh bid. Sachin Tendulkar is the brand ambassador of the League.