Sardar Singh, Raghunath fetch highest prices at HIL auction

New Delhi: India`s captain and one of the marquee players, Sardar Singh was sold to Delhi Wave Riders for the highest price of $78,000 while Bangalore`s V.R. Raghunath fetched the second highest price of $76,000 for Uttar Pradesh Wizards here at the Hockey India League (HIL) players` auction Sunday.

Raghunath`s reserve price was $13,900 before the Lucknow-based outfit snapped him up for the second highest figure at the auction. Other marquee players sold at the auction were German Moritz Suertse for $75,500 to Ranchi Rhinos, world`s most capped player Teun de Nooijer of the Netherlands to Lucknow-based Uttar Pradesh Wizards for $66,000, and Australian Jamie Dwyer to Jaypee Punjab Warriors at $60,000. India`s second marquee player and drag-flick specialist Sandeep Singh, who was touted to be sold for the highest price, went for his reserve price of $27,800 to Mumbai Magicians. Other important Indian players sold at the auction were S.V. Sunil (Punjab for $42,000), Yuvraj Walmiki (Delhi for $18,000), and Shivendra Singh (Punjab for $27,500). Mumbai`s Tushar Khandekar was sold for only $100 more than his reserve price of $13,900 to Uttar Pradesh while S.K. Uthappa went to Uttar Pradesh for $25,000 and Gurbaj Singh to Delhi for $36,000. Ignace Tirkey, who had a reserve price of $13,900, went to Punjab for $31,000 while Rupinder Pal Singh, with a base price of $9,250, was sold to Uttar Pradesh for $56000. Unlike cricket`s Indian Premier League (IPL), there were no problems with the auction of Pakistani players as the Mumbai franchisee bought Fareed Ahmed for $21,000 and Mohammed Rashid for $41,000. IANS