West Indies pacer Sheldon Cottrell, whose 'salute' celebration after taking a wicket, is part of cricketing folklore now, was bought by Kings XI Punjab for Rs 8.5 crore at IPL players' auction in Kolkata on Thursday.
Cottrell, who entered the auction with a base price of Rs 50 lakh, saw an intense bidding war between Kings XI Punjab and Delhi Capitals, but the latter dropped out at Rs 8.5 crore.
Another player who saw intense bidding was leg-spinner Piyush Chawla, who was in with a base price of Rs 1 crore. Though, initially, Mumbai Indians showed interest, it was left to Punjab and CSK to do the bidding.
However, it the Dhoni-led CSK that finally snapped up the leggie at Rs 6.5 crore.
Meanwhile, Australian right-arm pacer Nathan Coulter-Nile was bought by Mumbai Indians for Rs 8 crore while South Africa's star pacer Dale Steyn went unsold. The veteran Proteas pacer struggled for much of the last season at RCB with a shoulder injury.
Another big buy at the auction was South African Chris Morris, who was sold for Rs 10 crore to Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Among the Indians, seamer Jaydev Unadkat was bought by Rajasthan Royals for Rs 3 crore. World Cup-bound India Under-19 captain Priyam Garg went to Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs 1.9 crore while spinner Varun Chakravarthy, with a base price of Rs 30 lakh, was bought for Rs 4 crore by KKR.
Promising Under-19 batsman Yashasvi Jaiswal, with base price of Rs 20 lakh, was signed up for Rs 2.4 crore by Rajasthan Royals.
