LUCKNOW, June 19 -- Meerut's Karn Sharma will be turning 38 this October, and has taken part in several seasons of the cash-rich Indian Premier League. On Wednesday, as a mini-auction for the third season of the UPTwenty20 League took place here, Sharma (Rs 17.50 lakh) was the biggest signing. Sharma, who played all three formats of the game for Team India in 2014, was bought by the Noida Kings. He will be featuring in Uttar Pradesh for the first time as from the very start of his career, the bowling all-rounder has remained an integral part of the Railways side. Sharma has played for several IPL teams, including Deccan Chargers, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Chennai Super Kings, Royal Challengers Bangalore, and Mumbai Indians and has also been a part of four IPL-winning teams: Sunrisers Hyderabad (2016), Mumbai Indians (2017), and Chennai Super Kings (2018, 2021). Sharma is known for his leg-spin bowling and ability to bowl googlies. He can also contribute with the bat lower down the order. In the 2025 IPL season, Sharma played for the Mumbai Indians in six matches and picked seven wickets with an economy of 8.53. Meerut's medium pacer Kartik Tyagi got the second biggest purse of Rs 16.25 lakh, and will represent defending champions Meerut Mavericks, whereas Kanpur's keeper-batter Upendra Yadav was third in the list. He was bought by Kashi Rudras for Rs 13.50 lakh. The other big signings of the day included Shivam Chaudhary (Noida Kings, Rs 10.75 lakh), Uvaish Ahmad (Kashi Rudras, Rs 10.25 lakh) and Shoib Siddiqui (Lucknow Falcons, Rs 10 lakh). The presence of Railways cricketers, with a domicile in Uttar Pradesh, in the UPT20 League was possible for the first time after the league's governing body, Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association, received a go-ahead for this from the Board of Control for Cricket in India. "I am thankful to BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla Sir, who gave a chance to Railways cricketers with domicile in Uttar Pradesh to participate in the UPT20 League for the first time," said Upendra Yadav, who has scored a century and six half-centuries in 42 T20 matches in domestic cricket. "I've played all three formats for Uttar Pradesh before switching to Railways a few years ago. I'm excited and looking forward to making my debut in the UPT20 League for Kashi Rudras," said Yadav. The league is expected to be played on the hybrid model with opening and some matches happening here in Lucknow, while other matches and final match at Kanpur between August 22 to September 13. Uttar Pradesh Cricket Associationsecretary Arvind Srivastava said all dues of players and support staff of the Lucknow-based franchise for the second season had been cleared before the start of the auction on Wednesday. "In the governing council meeting on Tuesday, all the franchises were told to clear their dues of cricketers and the support staff by the start of the auction today, and I have been told that it is done within the prescribed time limit,' said Srivastava. UPT20 League's chairman DS Chauhan said that from this season, the seven uncapped players in all six teams would be receiving Rs 2 lakh instead of Rs 1.5 lakh. "It's a decision to keep these fringe players motivated during the league as these seven players for each side get selected through the talent hunt programme after picking up 18 in the auction," said Chauhan Srivastava also reiterated UPCA's stand to organise UPT20 League for women in the future. "Even during the second edition of the UPT20 League last year, we discussed the issue.but a final decision on this is yet to be made," said. We hope that in a year or two, we will be holding WUPTL too regularly."...