BANGALORE: Opener Gautam
Gambhir onSaturday became the
costliest cricketer in the IPL by
fetching a whopping $2.4million
(approx Rs 11.04 crore) on the
first day of the auctions where
Indianplayers proved to be the
biggest draw with three others
going for more than $2million.
Who gotwhom |
TeamComposition | Players togo
under hammer
In a high-profile auction, where
Bollywood starsand corporate
bigwigs were locked in a bidding
war, Kolkata Knight Riders
boughtGambhir for the mind-
boggling sum, beating the
previous high set by the
Englishduo of Kevin Pietersen
and Andrew Flintoff ($1.55
million) lastseason.
Shah Rukh Khan was not
present in person but his
KolkataKnight Riders, which had
been reduced to an also-ran in
the last two seasons,proved to
be the big spender of the day by
also buying hard-hitting all-
roundersYusuf Pathan (Rs 9.66
crore) and Jacques Kallis (Rs 5.06
crore) for the fourthedition of
event to be held from April 8 to
May 20.
Gambhir, who wascaptain of the
Delhi Daredevils last season, saw
his price skyrocket 12 timesfrom
his base price of $200,000 (Rs 92
lakh) while three other Indian
players --Yusuf ($2.1 million),
Rohit Sharma ($2 million) and
Robin Uthappa (2.1
million)crossed the two million
mark.
Yusuf's younger brother Irfan,
who hasnot played any cricket
this season, was taken by Delhi
Daredevils for asurprisingly high
amount of $1.9 (Rs 8.74 crore)
million.
But therewere some surprise
names in the unsold list with
former India and KKR
captainSourav Ganguly, West
Indies batting star Chris Gayle
and the legendary BrianLara
failing to find a buyer.
There is still a slim chance of
theseplayers finding a team after
their names come up again in
the second round ofbidding.
The bidding trend at the auction
at times appeared to defylogic
but what was certain was that
the franchises were willing to
spend bigmoney on the Indian
players. Mahela Jayawardene
was the most expensive
foreignplayer going to Kochi at
$1.5 million (Rs 6.90 crore).
Cricket aside,Bollywood stars
Preity Zinta and Shilpa Shetty
provided the glamour
quotientwhile liquor baron Vijay
Mallya, his son Siddharth, Nita
Ambani and Nusli Wadiaadded
the corporate aura at the
auction.
Cricketing brains such asAnil
Kumble, Stephen Fleming, Geoff
Lawson and Darren Lehmann,
who have beenroped in either as
coaches or mentors by the
franchises, helped them work
outthe bidding strategies.
As expected, big money was
spent but the wayit was spent on
some players was baffling. Robin
Uthappa, who has been out
ofnational reckoning for quite
some time, was bought for an
astounding $2.1million (Rs 9.66
crore) by Sahara Pune Warriors
who opened their account
bybuying Yuvraj Singh for $1.8
million (Rs 8.28 crore approx).
Pune gotYuvraj, the icon player
of Kings XI Punjab till last season,
after beating TeamKochi and the
batsman's former team in the
bid.
Even Rohit Sharma'sprice of $2
million (Rs 9.2 crore), which
Mumbai Indians paid, came as
asurprise in an auction where
proven T20 specialists such as
Jesse Ryder,Herschelle Gibbs,
Mark Boucher and Graeme
Swann went unsold.
Therewas intense bidding for
Gambhir, who was the first
player under the hammer,
fromPune and Mumbai before
KKR joined the fray after it
crossed the million dollarmark.
Kings XI Punjab also lost the bid
of Sri Lankan
MahelaJayawardene who was
bought by Kochi for $1.5 million.
The RoyalChallengers Bangalore
bought Zaheer Khan for
$900,000 and dashing Lankan
openerTillakaratne Dilshan for
$650,000.
However, the Vijay Mallya-
ownedfranchise had a prize
catch in talented South African
AB de Villiers, buying himfor $1.1
million (Rs 5.06 crore). They also
got New Zealand captain
DanielVettori for only $550,000.
The Rajasthan Royals bought
New Zealandbatsman Ross
Taylor for $1 million (Rs 4.6
crore). But what turned out to
be asurprise was South African
off-spinner Johan Botha being
bought after a lot ofbidding for
$950,000.
However, Kevin Pietersen, who
was one of themost sought after
players in the second and third
edition, was bought by
DeccanChargers for $650,000
much less than his million dollar
price in the earlieryears.
Andrew Symonds, who was one
of the costliest players
duringseason one, was bought
for $850,000 by Mumbai Indians.
After thefirst two rounds, Team
Kochi had bought the maximum
five players (MahelaJayawardene,
Brendon McCullum, VVS
Laxman, S Sreesanth and Rudra
PratapSingh).
Kochi were quite lucky to buy
McCullum for as low a price as
$475,000 considering his
reputation as a T20 dasher.
Sahara PuneWarriors were also a
gainer as they got South African
captain Graeme Smith for
$500,000 only.
Kings XI Punjab who lost all their
key playersincluding the Lankan
duo of Kumar Sangakkara
(bought by Deccan Chargers for
$650,000) and Jayawardene ($1.5
million for Kochi) and Yuvraj to
Pune finallyhad something to
cheer when they successfully bid
for former
Australianwicketkeeper Adam
Gilchrist for $900,000.
After the lunch break,there were
some more surprises with the
young Saurabh Tiwary bought by
RoyalChallengers Bangalore for
$1.6 million (Rs 7.36 crore).
Punjab also spent $1.4million
(approx Rs 6.34 crore) on
Australian David Hussey.
SouthAfrican speedster Dale
Steyn, who made life difficult for
Indian batsmen duringthe recent
drawn Test series, was bought by
Deccan Chargers for $1.2 million
(Rs5.5 crore).
Australia's injury-plagued
speedster Brett Lee went forhis
base price of $400,000 to
Kolkata after failing to invite a
bid for quite awhile in the
auction.
South Africans were hot picks at
the auctionwith Steyn's pace
partner Morne Morkel going to
Delhi at$475,000.
The run-up to the auction was
marred by legal
wranglingbetween the BCCI and
two franchise -- Rajasthan Royals
and Kings XI Punjab --both of
whom were initially booted out
of the event over ownership
issues beforecoming back
through court orders.
Playing
for Melbourne Renegades, Gayle hit two humongous in a Big Bash League
Twenty20 match against Brisbane Heat to achieve the landmark.
