<
>

Hockey India League auction Highlights, Day 2: Lancers sign Hendrickx, Govers to TN Dragons

Belgian Alexander Hendrickx will be among the star attractions on day 2 of the HIL Auction. WorldSportPics/Frank Uijlenbroek

The Hockey India League auction will resume in New Delhi this morning, with the eight men's teams continuning to pick their squads for the tournament, which will start in late December.

You can follow the auction as it happens in our live blog below:

On the first day of the auction on Sunday, India captain Harmanpreet Singh was the highest-paid player, as he was bought by the JSW Sports-owned Soorma HC for Rs 78 lakh. National team stars Abhishek and Hardik Singh also breached the Rs 70 lakh mark, as they were bought Shrachi Rarh Bengal Tigers and UP Rudras respectively.

Among the overseas players, dragflickers were highly sought after, with all the three highest-paid overseas players being of that type. Germany's Gonzalo Peillat went to the Hdyerabad Toofans for Rs 68 lakh, Dutchman Jip Janssen went to the Tamil Nadu Dragons for Rs 54 lakh, while Australia's Jeremy Hayward joined Harmanpreet at Soorma, who shelled out Rs 42 lakh for his services.

The second day of the auctions on Monday, will see several other fancied overseas stars be auctioned. Australia's Blake Govers, the Belgian pair of Alexander Hendrickx and Tom Boon, the Dutch cpatain Thierry Brinkman are all likely to be in demand from the franchises, who will also have to have their eye on the junior Indian players.

Every franchise is required to have at least four junior Indian players in their 24-man squad. With only eight overseas players allowed in each squad, and only four allowed to play at any given point of time, the emphasis will have to be on the Indian players, and how the overseas players can complement those.