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Summary Afridi was sold to the Dhaka franchise for $700,000 after some intense bidding.
Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi was the hottest property in an auction held for the inaugural Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) Twenty20 tournament on Thursday. English spinner Monty Panesar and former South African batsman Herschelle Gibbs failed to attract bids.Afridi was the most expensive, with hard-hitting West Indies batsman Chris Gayle being sold to Barisal Burners for $551,100 and his comptriot Marlon Samuels to Duronto Rajshahi for $360,000.The BPL is the Bangladeshi answer to Indian Premier League (IPL), which revolutionised cricket when it burst on to the scene in 2008 with a high-octane blend of international star players, Twenty20 matches and celebrity glamour.West Indian Kieron Pollard was sold to Dhaka for $300,000 and Bangladeshi allrounder Nasir Hossain for $200,000 to Khulna. Ex-Pakistani captain Shoaib Malik and West Indies batsman Dwayne Bravo each landed $150,000.Seventeen foreign players were put on auction with a base price of $100,000 including Sri Lankan greats Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas, New Zealander Scott Styris and Zimbabwe captain Brendan Taylor.Ex-Australian Stuart MacGill was one of 36 players auctioned with a base price of $50,000. The leggie was sold to Dhaka at the base price.Indian company Game On bought the rights of the first six editions of BPL for around $44 million dollars last year. Six franchises were bought by Bangladeshi companies with a minimum price of one million dollars.
