Kings XI Punjab Manzoor Dar
Kings XI Punjab had bought Manzoor Dar in the IPL auction 2018. Image Courtesy: Twitter

The cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL) is well known for throwing in new promising stars in the limelight.

Kashmir’s, Manzoor Dar was the talking point of the IPL auction that took place in Bangalore on 26th and 27th January. Kings XI Punjab picked up the youngster for INR 20 lakh.

The 24-year-old is a hard-hitting batsman and the only participant in the IPL from the valley of Kashmir. A popular face, Parveez Rasool found no takers while no one bid for fast-bowler Umar Nazir.

Manzoor goes by the nickname -‘ Pandav’, all thanks to his solid build. His teammates often call him by this name as his figure resembles Mahabharat’s Bheem.

Kings XI Punjab IPL 2018
Kings XI Punjab are likely to change their name ahead of the 2018 IPL auction.

Minister tweets his Heart Out

Jammu Kashmir’s Sports Activities Minister, Imran Ansari wasted no time and expressed his pleasure on seeing Manzoor’s name in the sold list of the IPL auction. He tweeted,

“I’m personally grateful to Mr Rajiv Shukla Chairman #IPL who has been help for Kashmiri’s at the moment as soon as once more confirmed his dedication to what he says he does. A Huge thanks Sir .God Bless you.”

The youngster will get to play alongside big names such as Chris Gayle and Glenn Maxwell. The Punjab franchise spent INR 67.4 crore out of the allocated budget of 67.5 crores. They had retained Axar Patel and went on to buy 20 players. They had to break the bank to rope in Indian batsman KL Rahul.

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Rahul was picked for INR 11 crore. He was the costliest player at the auction until Rajasthan Royals bought in Jaydev Unadkat for INR 11.5 crore.

Kings XI Punjab squad:

Axar Patel, KL Rahul, Ravichandran Ashwin, Andrew Tye, Aaron Finch, Marcus Stoinis, Karun Nair, Mujeeb Zadran, Ankit Singh Rajpoot, David Miller, Mohit Sharma, Barinder Singh Sran, Yuvraj Singh, Christopher Gayle, Ben Dwarshuis, Akshdeep Nath, Manoj Tiwary, Mayank Agarwal, Manzoor Dar, Pardeep Sahu, Mayank Dagar.