Rajesh Pawar, Paul Valthaty to feature in Mumbai T20 League

Rajesh Pawar

Former left arm spinner and current selection panel head for Mumbai U19, Rajesh Pawar, and ex-IPL player Paul Valthaty are set to feature in the inaugural T20 Mumbai League to be held here from March 11-21. What was surprising was Valthaty, who scored a blazing 120 off 63 balls for Kings XI Punjab against the redoubtable Chennai Super Kings in 2011 and had played for Rajasthan Royals in a couple of games in 2009, was on the Emerging and Development players list.

Valthaty, now 34, was a member of India's U19 WC squad with Irfan Pathan and Parthiv Patel in 2002. He was snapped up by Mumbai South Central for Rs 50,000. On the other hand, left-arm spinner Pawar had played for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy and then Baroda before his action was called "suspect".

Pawar was chosen by the Mumbai North team for Rs 80000. Meanwhile, the six franchises bought 119 players for a collective sum of Rs 2.03 crores during the players' auction yesterday for the inaugural League. The teams ' Mumbai North, Mumbai North-West, Mumbai North-East, Mumbai North-Central, Mumbai South-Central, Mumbai South ' had a budget of Rs 35 lakhs each to form a squad consisting of a minimum of 16 players and a maximum of 20 players. It was mandatory for the teams to spend a minimum of Rs 30 lakhs.

While the Icon players had a base price of Rs 4 lakhs, the First Class players had a base price of Rs 1.5 lakhs. The List A Players (players who have represented Mumbai in other national domestic tournaments or India U-19 and India A teams in the last three years) were the next with a base price of Rs 1 lakh, followed by Emerging Players (players who have represented Mumbai in other national domestic tournaments or the U-19 or U-23 teams in the last three years) with a base price of Rs 75,000.

The final category was that of the Developmental Players (players representing any club or team that is affiliated to MCA or any MCA affiliate teams), who had a base price of Rs 50,000. The Player Regulations for the league made it mandatory for each team to include only one Icon player and 5 First Class players in their squad. It was also compulsory for each franchise to include a minimum of 4 Emerging Players and/or Developmental Players in aggregate in the squad. A total of 119 players were sold, including six Icon players, and the list had 30 who had played First Class cricket. The total number of List A Players sold was 17, while the total number of Emerging and Developmental Players sold stood at 66.

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