“Shahid Afridi was bought for $700,000 dollars, the highest in the BPL auction, by our team Dhaka Gladiators.” -Photo by Reuters

DHAKA: Pakistani all-rounder Shahid Afridi was the most expensive of a host of international stars sold at the inaugural auction for the new Bangladesh Premier League on Thursday as he fetched $700,000.

The former Pakistani captain hit the jackpot in a secret bidding process after he became the target of all six teams in the Twenty20 cricket tournament to be held next month.

“Shahid Afridi was bought for $700,000 dollars, the highest in the BPL auction, by our team Dhaka Gladiators,” team spokesman Minhaz Khan told AFP.

Hard-hitting West Indies batsman Chris Gayle was sold to Barisal Burners for $551,100 and his comptriot Marlon Samuels to Duronto Rajshahi for $360,000, according to live telecast by private Channel 9 Television.

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. No Indian players were included in them BPL auction, however.

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.

A total of 111 overseas players and 80 local cricketers were put on auction with teams given a maximum budget of $2million and able to buy no more than eight overseas players.

Pakistan Shoaib Malik (Chittagong $150,000) Kamran Akmal (Sylhet $100,000) Rana Naved-ul Hasan (Dhaka $100,000) Sohail Tanvir (Sylhet $100,000) Saeed Ajmal (Dhaka $100,000)

West Indies Dwayne Bravo (Chittagong $150,000) Chris Gayle (Barisal Burners $551,100) Marlon Samuels (Duronto Rajshahi $360,000) Kieron Pollard (Dhaka $360,000)

Australia Brad Hodge (Barisal $140,000)

Sri Lanka Sanath Jayasuriya (Khulna) $110,000) Muttiah Muralitharan (Chittagong $100,000)

South Africa Herschelle Gibbs (Khulna for $100,000)