By IANS,
Panaji : Shah Rukh Khan’s Kolkata Knight Riders snapped up Bangladesh fast bowler Mashrafe Mortaza for a whopping $600,000 after an intense round of bidding, and the longest in the auction of players for the Indian Premier League (IPL), against Preity Zinta’s Kings XI Punjab here Friday.
Mortaza’s base price was $50,000 and Knight Riders were the first to take the call before Preity pitched in aggressively in what turned out to be a virtual war between two Bollywood stars that continued for 20 minutes.
Actress Juhi Chawla, co-owner of Knight Riders, piloted the bid in the absence of Shah Rukh.
Mortaza has now become the highest paid Bangladeshi cricketer.
The 25-year-old, who hails from Jessore, is the spearhead of Bangladesh bowling and has 135 wickets from 103 ODIS.
The strategy behind buying Mortaza was to increase the catchment area of Kolkata Knight Riders to neighbouring areas like Bangladesh, experts said.