ILT20 Season 5 Biggest Buys: Fazalhaq Farooqi Becomes Most Expensive Player With $380,000 Deal; Babar Azam goes for base price

Fazalhaq Farooqi (Photo credit: ILT20) Afghanistan pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi became the most expensive player in the history of the International League T20 (ILT20) player auction after he was bought by MI Emirates for USD 380,000 on Thursday.Farooqi will join MI Emirates for the fifth consecutive season. His deal broke the auction record for the third time during the day.Liam Livingstone had previously set a new record when Gulf Giants bought him for US$350,000. Ahead of Livingston, the Gulf Giants exercised their Right-to-Match option to retain Afghanistan batsman Rahmanullah Gurbaz for US$310,000, making him the most expensive player in the history of the ILT20 auctions at the time.Before Gurbaz, the record was held by Faf du Plessis after joining Dubai Capitals for US$300,000.Babar Azam was bought by the Desert Vipers for his base price of $80,000. This will be his first season in the ILT20.In addition, the Gulf Giants also acquired pacer Alzarri Joseph from the West Indies for $230,000. Allah Ghazanfar was another major signing who joined for US$150,000 while Mohammad Nabi was bought for US$140,000 and Dasun Shanaka for US$100,000.The Season 5 Player Auction took place in Dubai on Thursday, October 1, with over 200 players from 23 countries in the auction pool. The list included Babar Azam, Phil Salt, Tom Banton, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Waninda Hasaranga, Alzarri Joseph, Faf du Plessis and Liam Livingstone.The six franchises entered the auction with purses ranging from $1.3 million to $1.39 million and fielded teams between 18 and 23 players. Each franchise had a purse of $1.3 million, in addition to the $700,000 in unused funds available for outright signings and retentions.