England’s Livingstone goes for $1.52 mn in IPL auction

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England batsman Liam Livingstone on Sunday became the most expensive foreign player in this season’s ongoing Indian Premier League auction as Punjab Kings snapped him up for $1.52 million.

Livingstone stood out on a cautious final day for the 10 teams who splurged millions on Saturday, but the first session Sunday in Bangalore witnessed England white-ball stars including Eoin Morgan and Dawid Malan
going unsold.

The attacking batsman, who hit England’s fastest Twenty20 century in 42 balls in a game against Pakistan last year, played for Rajasthan Royals the previous season after being bought for $100,000, reports AFP.

Livingstone, 28, stood above overseas big buys including Sri Lanka’s Wanindu Hasaranga and the West Indies’ Nicholas Pooran as the two won bids for $1.42 million each on day one.

Punjab, still searching for their first IPL title in 14 seasons, also bagged West Indies pace bowler Odean Smith for nearly $800,000.

Both Livingstone, who can also bowl off spin and leg spin, and Smith had a base price of $130,000.

South African bowling allrounder Marco Jansen jumped from his base price of $66,000 to get $558,000 from 2016 winners Sunrisers Hyderabad.

India’s Ishan Kishan fetched $2 million on day one after Mumbai bought the wicketkeeper-batsman back to their franchise that has won a record five titles.

South Africa’s Chris Morris is the most expensive IPL player ever, selling for $2.23 million last year.

The teams have been bidding for 600 foreign and Indian players in the auction to reset their teams after retaining few of their top players.

The 15th edition of the IPL begins in late March, with the final in May.