Moeen sold for £700,000 at IPL auction

NEW DELHI (Agencies): Chennai Super Kings have bought England all-rounder Moeen Ali for £700,000 at the Indian Premier League auction.

South Africa’s Chris Morris is the most expensive player so far, costing Rajasthan Royals £1.6m for the Twenty20 tournament which starts in April. England all-rounder Tom Curran went to Delhi Capitals for close to £520,000.

His compatriot Dawid Malan, who is number one in the world Twenty20 batting rankings, was sold to Punjab Kings for nearly £150,000. Chennai (CSK) were involved in a bidding battle with Punjab Kings for Moeen before securing the services of the 33-year-old Worcestershire player.

It follows England coach Chris Silverwood apologising for the manner in which Moeen’s departure from the India tour was confirmed in recent days. England captain Joe Root initially said Moeen had “chosen” to go home, whereas his period of rest had actually been planned beforehand. Moeen and Malan will join the eight other England players, who have been retained by their IPL franchises, in this year’s IPL.

England batsmen Alex Hales, Jason Roy and Sam Billings, as well as spinner Adil Rashid, went unsold. England have a home Test series against New Zealand in June, and some players could miss the two Tests if their IPL teams reach the latter stages of the tournament.

New Zealand all-rounder Kyle Jamieson was sold to Royal Challengers Bangalore for £1.48m. Australian batsman Glenn Maxwell also went to Royal Challengers Bangalore for £1.4m after they outbid CSK to secure his services, while his international team-mate Jhye Richardson went for close to a similar amount as he was picked up by Punjabi Kings.