It’s always intriguing when, in an auction, a team enters into a bidding war for a particular player, but in the end, it’s another team that acquires him.

This was the case with defending champions Maratha Royals, who wanted to retain all-rounder Vaibhav Mali, but had to let go of him at Saturday’s auction for Season 4 of the T20 Mumbai League which will be held from June 1 for a fortnight, The team that succeeded in acquiring Mali was North Mumbai Panthers for Rs 9 lakh.