Maxwell gets million-dollar deal in IPL

Little-known Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell was the only million-dollar buy in a low-key IPL players’ auction where franchises opted to put their money on unheralded names instead of established stars, most of whom went unsold on Sunday.

The 24-year-old Maxwell stole the thunder grabbing a whopping $1 million (Rs 5.3 crore) deal with Mumbai Indians, while among the Indians, all-rounder Abhishek Nayar, and pacers R P Singh and Jaydev Unadkat invited unexpectedly high bids in the auction where only 37 of the 108 players in the fray managed to find buyers.

The giants of the game who failed evoke much interest from the franchises included Australian captain Michael Clarke and his predecessor Ricky Ponting. Both of them were marquee players but were sold on their base price of $400,000 (Rs 2.1 crore) to Pune Warriors and Mumbai Indians respectively.

In contrast, there was a fierce bidding war for Maxwell in which Mumbai
pipped Hyderabad Sunrisers to clinch the player.

‘He is an upcoming youngster. He can bat, bowl and I think he is a great fielder. We had thought of some names before we came here and he was one of them,’ said Mumbai owner Nita Ambani on the logic behind making such a high bid for the youngster, who is just eight ODIs and nine T20Is old in the international arena.

Currently playing against the West Indies in an ODI series, Maxwell was ironically out for a first-ball duck in Perth while franchises bid for him here.

Posted in: Australia, cricket news, IPL