Sibin Girish was the most expensive player in the KCL auction.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Alleppey Ripples made the biggest splash in the player auction for the third season of the Kerala Cricket League (KCL) here on Saturday.Ripples stirred up an absolute tidal wave in the auction when it bought all-rounder Sibin Girish for ₹11.8 lakh, making him the most expensive player of the season.Sibin, who had a base price of ₹75,000, attracted bids from Calicut Globstars, Thrissur Titans and Kochi Blue Tigers. Globstars withdrew from the race when the price crossed ₹7 lakh and Titans exited at ₹10.4 lakh. Ripples then outbid Blue Tigers to pocket the all-rounder. Sibin is also the most expensive player to be bought in Category C in the history of KCL.Ripples’ first buy was Kerala captain Sachin Baby for whom it splurged ₹10 lakh after warding off bids from Titans. Ripples also spent ₹six lakh for Kerala under-23 captain and all-rounder Abhijith Praveen.Mohammed Azharuddeen, Ripples captain and one of the retained players, said the team was keen to sign Sibin after seeing his consistent performances in various tournaments. “We had a clear cut plan for the auction and had fixed our budgets for each player we wanted and it went as planned. We had Sibin on our radar following his good all-round performances in various tournaments. He bowls medium pace and is a good finisher and he will bring a lot of balance to our squad. We also wanted an experienced player like Sachin Baby who will be an asset for us,” said Azharuddeen.For the record, Sachin was the most expensive player in Category A.
