Kolkata buys Mashrafee for $6 lakh ..............

Indian Premier League franchise Kolkata Knight Riders has dramatically bought Bangladesh allrounder Mashrafee Bin Mortaza for $ 600000 in an auction, according to crininfo.com.

Mashrafee became the first Bangladeshi player sold from Pool F in the official Indian Twenty20 league.

There were no bids for him initially but just before the hammer went down, Kolkata made a bid at the base price of $50,000. It was the start of the most dramatic sale at the auction.

Kings XI Punjab threw themselves in the fray, locking horns against Kolkata, for Mashrafee. The bids spiralled slowly towards $400,000 and the auctioneer asked Punjab if they want to go $410,000, Priety Zinta nodded.

The raises were slow and the bidding went on and on and on. Kolkata touched the $500,00 mark. Punjab went further at $550,000. The atmosphere in the room grew quieter as the bids rose and the auctioneer attempted to speed up the process.

Kolkata was the first to bid $600,000 for Mashrafee at which point Punjab bowed out of the race. It was the longest lot in the auction, almost as long as a short chess game. A bit similar to Ishant Sharma's surprise $950,000 tag at fag end of the auction last year.

Bet there are celebrations in Narail, Mashrafee's hometown. What a moment for Mashrafee, he's the first Bangladesh player to be bought by the IPL.

Wonder what Shakib Al Hasan is thinking? He's had such a fabulous year with bat and ball and yet there were no bidders for him. Do the franchises look at ICC rankings?

Mashrafee's base price was $50,000 and he went for $600,000.