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The Punjab Kings have explained away their laughable moment of confusion at Tuesday night’s Indian Premier League auction as a case of mistaken identity.
During the auction’s accelerated round, Punjab appeared to mistakenly bid for Indian batting all-rounder Shashank Singh.
In farcical scenes, Singh’s name was announced at a base price of 20 Lakhs ($35,700) before Punjab raised its paddle to signal the team’s interest in acquiring him.
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As the hammer went down with the Kings as the sole bidder, the team’s co-owners Ness Wadia and Preity Zinta looked to be discussing whether they had made a blunder.
Members of Punjab’s table attempted to catch the attention of auctioneer Mallika Sagar before requesting to withdraw their offer.
“Oh, it was the wrong name. You don’t want the player?,” Sagar said.
However, the bid could not be revoked with Sagar holding firm that the sale was complete as the hammer had come down.
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Under the rules of the auction, if any team completes a bid they are required to take that player.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Punjab claimed the “confusion” occurred because two players featured in the auction shared the same name.
“Media have reported on Shashank Singh being bought erroneously by the Punjab Kings,” the statement read.
“The Kings would like to clarify that Shashank Singh was always on our target list. The confusion was due to two players of the same name being on the list. We are delighted to have him on board and see him contribute to our success.”
Singh previously went unsold in last year’s auction after being released by SunRisers Hyderabad.
The other Shashank Singh in the auction, a 20-year-old unknown batsman who is yet to break into the IPL, had earlier gone unsold in the auction.
Australian Mitchell Starc broke the record for the highest price paid at an IPL Auction, only an hour after Pat Cummins was picked up for a record $3.66 million.
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