Livingstone strikes big, Morgan and Finch unsold in IPL auction

NEW DELHI : Punjab Kings bought England all-rounder Liam Livingstone for $1.53 million but Australia's World-Cup winning skipper Aaron Finch went unsold in the players auction for this year's Indian Premier League (IPL) on Sunday.

England white-ball skipper Eoin Morgan was not signed up but team mate Jofra Archer was bought by Mumbai Indians for 80 million Indian rupees ($1.06 million) even though the fast bowler, recovering after an elbow surgery, is unlikely to play in this year's tournament.

England spin-bowling power-hitter Livingstone triggered a five-way bidding war which Punjab clinched by forking out 115 million Indian rupees for him.

Livingstone smashed a 43-ball 103 in a Twenty20 match against Pakistan last year and the 28-year-old, who can mix off-breaks and leg-breaks, was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the men's Hundred competition in 2021.

Finch led Australia to their maiden Twenty20 World Cup title last year but did not interest any of the league's 10 franchises on the second and final day of auction in Bengaluru.

Compatriots Marnus Labuschagne and Nathan Coulter-Nile as well as England batsman Dawid Malan also went unsold.

There was a healthy appetite for quick bowlers in the two-day auction but South African Lungi Ngidi went unsold.

The 15th edition of the world's richest cricket league will begin in the last week of March with two new franchises - Lucknow and Ahmedabad - taking part.

($1 = 75.3188 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in New Delhi; editing by Ed Osmond)