First Masters Champions League 2020 players auction concluded successfully on 7 December at the Grand Midwest hotel in Dubai. More than 250+ cricketers went into under hammer under five categories named Legends, Icons, A+, A and Associate Country players. Each franchise had a total purse of 750,000$ that they could use to purchase players. And each franchise must spend a minimum of 550,000$ in MCL auction to buy players.
The players were divided into various categories based on their international caps. The base price of a player was 10,000$ in MCL2020 auction. The base price of ‘Icons’ was $100,000 whereas each team purchased two legends before the starting of auction at the combined price of 100,000$. Players who player 100 or more than 100 international cricket matches went into Category A+ whose base price was 30,000$.
South Africa’s Jacques Kallis became the most expensive player of Masters Champions League as he was purchased by Libra Legends for the price of 175,000$. He will be seen playing together icon players of Libra team i.e. Sourav Ganguly and Graeme Swann.
Former Australia’s wicket-keeper batsman Adam Gilchrist received the second highest amount in MCL T20 auction. Sagittarius Strikers bought Adam Gilchrist for $170,000. Gilchrist will be seen playing together with Mahela Jayawardene and Daniel Vettori.
Twelve marquee players were allotted to the six franchises before the start of auction. The 6 franchises are Gemini Arabians, Libra Legends, Sagittarius Strikers, Virgo Super Kings, Leo Lions and Capricorn Commanders.
The marquee players allotted as follows:
Virender Sehwag and Kumar Sangakkara (Gemini Arabians), Sourav Ganguly and Graeme Swann (Libra Legends), Abdul Razzaq and Michael Vaughan (Capricorn Commanders), Graeme Smith and Azhar Mahmood (Virgo Super Kings), Scott Styris and Heath Streak (Leo Lions) and Mahela Jayawardene and Daniel Vettori (Sagittarius Strikers)
MCL Full Squads
Gemini Arabians
Virender Sehwag, Kumar Sangakkara, Muttiah Muralitharan, Kyle Mills, Saqlain Mushtaq, Jacques Rudolph, Naved-ul-Hasan, Justin Kemp, Paul Harris, Brad Hodge, Richard Levi, Ashish Bagai, Graham Onions, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Saqib Ali. Read more about Arabians players buy in auction.
Libra Legends
Sourav Ganguly, Graeme Swann, Jacques Kallis, Brad Hogg, Ryan ten Doeschate, Ajay Ratra, Chris Read, Sean Ervine, Shaun Tait, Ryan Sidebottom, Michael Lumb, Marcus North, Taufeeq Umar, Nicky Boje and Ian Butler. Read more about Libra’s players buy in auction.
Sagittarius Strikers
Mahela Jayawardene, Daniel Vettori, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Bond, Khurram Khan, Phil Mustard, Tino Best, Nathan Hauritz, Alviro Petersen, Michael Carberry, Krishmar Santokie, Jonathan Trott, Yasir Hameed, Mushtaq Ahmed and Gavin Hamilton. Read more about Sagittarius players buy in auction.
Virgo Super Kings
Graeme Smith, Azhar Mahmood, Brett Lee, Jonty Rhodes, Neil McKenzie, John Mooney, Dirk Nannes, Owais Shah, James Foster, Murali Kartik, Malinga Bandara, Gareth Batty, Hasan Raza, Jacob Oram, Humayun Farhat and Mohammad Yousuf. Read more about Virgo’s players buy in auction.
Capricorn Commanders
Michael Vaughan, Abdul Razzaq, Paul Collingwood, Andrew Symonds, Chamara Silva, Ashwell Prince, Upul Chandana, Ryan McLaren, Jeetan Patel, Rikki Clarke, Rory Kleinveldt, Ben Laughlin, Rizwan Cheema, Geraint Jones, Sunil Joshi and Saleem Elahi. Read more about Capricorn’s players buy in auction.
Leo Lions
Heath Streak, Scott Styris, Brian Lara, Herschelle Gibbs, Brendan Taylor, James Franklin, Johan Botha, Robin Peterson, Fidel Edwards, Mohammad Tauqir, Neil Carter, Hamish Marshall, Kyle Jarvis, Ramesh Powar, Simon Jones and Darren Gough. Read more about Leo’s players buy in auction.
The first edition of Masters Champions League is scheduled to be held in January-February 2016. United Arab Emirates to host the MCL games.