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All eyes were on Indian men’s hockey captain Sardar Singh at the Hockey India League auctions but it was the German stars that stole the show with Moritz Fuerste attracting a massive bid of $105,000 by the Kalinga Lancers. The other German players who went for huge amounts were striker Florian Fuchs ($96,000 to Dabang Mumbai) and midfielder Tobias Hauke ($96,000 to Uttar Pradesh Wizards). In comparison, Sardar Singh was bought for a meagre $58,000 by the Punjab Warriors, far less than the $78,000 he commanded in the inaugural auction.

For the 2016 Hockey India League season, news rules regarding scoring will come into place – each field goal will count for two points while goals coming from penalty strokes arising out of tackles will also count for two. The new rules had a marked effect on the auctions, with the franchise owners showing a definite preference for play-makers over strikers. It was not all bad going for the Indians though – Akashdeep Singh became the top Indian pick with Uttar Pradesh Wizards willing to shelve out $84,000 for him. Sandeep Singh and Gurmail Singh were also bought for hefty sums, both going for the identical sum of $81,000.

However, there were a few hiccups in the process, the biggest among them the confusion that arose when no one had an idea about the process regarding the auction of the reverse players. The officials, including Narinder Batra, president of Hockey India, were debating and discussing the situation on live television, making for a distinctly uncomfortable few minutes. The Twitterati were definitely not amused: