GB and England goalkeeper James Mazarelo sparked a bidding war on a lengthy final day in the men’s Hockey India League player auction.
The Surbiton stopper surprisingly saw three teams attempt to acquire the 23-year-old when UP Rudras, Kalinga Lancers and Hyderabad Toofans looked to seal one of their last overseas signings.
From a base price category of 2 lakh, in the end Lucknow outfit UP Rudras secured his services for 13 lakh (£11,800) – a healthy payday for the talented goalkeeper who will be of great value if comes down to shoot-outs.
It means that both GB goalkeepers will play in the five-week league after Ollie Payne was picked up by Team Gonasika for 15 lakh.
There was uncertainty during the auction when it was announced that closed bids would see out the remainder of the overseas players for the three teams still in the mix, before a host of names were read out.
Later, the auctioneer listed a string of low base category Indian names, which ended with a plethora of ‘unsold’.
Indian forward Maninder Singh also sparked a bidding frenzy as Soorma won his services for 26 lakhs.
At one point, the Soorma franchise didn’t lower their hockey paddle as the price rose.
As the auction wore on and amid that raft of no bids, Rajinder was acquired by Hyderabad Toofans for a massive 23 lakh.
In a series of closed bids after 10pm local time, Nick Bandurak, currently without a club, was picked up by Kalinga Lancers for 5 lakh as the 2017 champions sealed their 24-strong team.
On day two, Belgium’s Victor Wegnez (sold for 40 lakh to Soorma Hockey Club) earlier became the costliest buy.
All eight franchises assembled squads for the upcoming season, scheduled to take place in Rourkela later this year.
Congratulations James…and congratulations to all the players.
All the teams have a good and fair squad.
Now it is your turn….the chosen ones to work hard, play as well as you can and show India and the world your mettle! Good luck to all the teams.