Fazalhaq Farooqi sold for record USD 380,000 at ILT20 auction
Farooqi's USD 380,000 deal tops ILT20 records; Livingstone and Gurbaz also set new marks during the same auction.
Afghanistan pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi became the most expensive player in International League T20 history after MI Emirates bought him for USD 380,000. The bid broke the previous record set earlier in the same auction when Gulf Giants purchased Liam Livingstone for USD 350,000. Farooqi will join MI Emirates for a fifth consecutive season.
Gulf Giants also retained Rahmanullah Gurbaz for USD 310,000 using their Right-to-Match option before signing Alzarri Joseph for USD 230,000. Desert Vipers bought Babar Azam at his base price of USD 80,000 for his first ILT20 season. The auction featured more than 200 players from 23 countries.
Each of the six franchises entered the auction with purses between USD 1.3 million and USD 1.39 million. They built squads of between 18 and 23 players, with additional funds available for direct signings and retentions.
CricHubb Take
Farooqi's price reflects how T20 franchises now value reliable death bowlers who can bowl at the end in high-scoring games more than they value middle-order batsmen.