Mumbai: Atharva Ankolekar emerged as the costliest player in an intense bidding day, which saw eight teams spend ₹ 7.79 crores to build highly competitive 18-member squads for the T20 Mumbai League Season 3. The thrilling auction was held in Mumbai on Wednesday ahead of another highly anticipated season of the blockbuster league, which will be held at the Wankhede Stadium from May 26 to June 8.

In addition to Ankolekar, young talents like Ayush Mhatre, Musheer Khan, and Sairaj Patil were among the top buys in the fierce bidding war at the auction.

Ankolekar attracted the biggest bid of Rs 16.25 lakh, while IPL 2025 rising superstars Ayush Mhatre and Angkrish Raghuvanshi were sold for Rs 14.75 lakh and Rs 14.00 lakh respectively

Close to 280 players went under the hammer in their bid to participate in The T20 Mumbai League, one of India's leading franchise-based domestic T20 tournaments.

Who is Atharva Ankolekar?

Born on 26 September 2000 in Mumbai, Ankolekar found support from his father Vinod Ankolekar, an employee at the electricity department of BEST and a Kanga League cricketer, in his early years. Vinod, who wanted Atharva to become a professional cricketer, took his son under his wings and trained him in his initial playing days. Atharva was also trained in the famous Chandrakant Pandit Academy.

After the death of his father in 2010, Atharva’s family went through a lot of hardships, but it didn’t deter the young cricketer. He made steady progress in Mumbai age-group cricket and was awarded a call-up to the India B squad in the U-19 Challenger Trophy and the Mumbai U-23 squad in 2019.

His heroics helped him earn a call-up in India’s ACC U-19 squad in 2019, and the all-rounder repaid the faith of the selectors with a sensational display. The left-arm orthodox spinner picked up 12 wickets in the tournament, including a match-winning five-wicket haul against Bangladesh in the final.

The Asia Cup performance earned him an entry into the senior squad of Mumbai for the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2019-20. In the same year, he was selected in India’s squad for the 2020 U-19 World Cup, where he impressed with both bat and ball.

Atharva continued to shine and was rewarded with a T20 debut match in Mumbai’s Syed Mushtaq Ali campaign in 2021 – the same year in which saw him made his List-A debut too in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2020-21.

In the T20 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy final 2024, Ankolekar played a key role in Mumbai’s victory.

Rising stars and icon players to grace T20 Mumbai league

In the Mumbai T20 League Auction, he secured the highest bid to join Eagle Thane Strikers. Meanwhile, Musheer Khan, a member of the Punjab Kings squad, and Sairaj Patil were the other all-rounders who bagged big deals of Rs 15 lakh each. Musheer went to ARCS Andheri, while Sairaj was snapped up by Eagle Thane Strikers.

Rising stars from IPL 2025, Ayush Mhatre and Angkrish Raghuvanshi, were picked up by Triumph Knights Mumbai North East and SoBo Mumbai Falcons.

The marquee league also features a star-studded line-up of icon players like Suryakumar Yadav (Triumph Knights Mumbai North East), Ajinkya Rahane (Bandra Blasters), Shreyas Iyer (SoBo Mumbai Falcons), Prithvi Shaw (North Mumbai Panthers), Shivam Dube (ARCS Andheri), Shardul Thakur (Eagle Thane Strikers), Sarfaraz Khan (Aakash Tigers Mumbai Western Suburbs) and Tushar Deshpande (Mumbai South Central Maratha Royals).