Australia's ageing all-rounder
Shane Watson today emerged as the biggest draw going for a whopping Rs 9.50 crore, while Yuvraj Singh was the costliest buy among the Indians with a bid of Rs 7 crore in a rather low-key IPL players' auction here today. The 34-year-old Watson, who marked his return to form with a blazing century against India in the last T20, triggered an intense bidding war among three franchises before Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) clinched the deal with the highest package so far.
Watson thus became the first million dollar buy of the auction with his package translating into USD 1.39 million. He was joined by Yuvraj soon after even though today's bid was far less than the Rs 16 crore he had garnered in the last auction.
Ishant Sharma (Rs 3.8 crore to Rising
More From This Section
Pune Super Giants), Kevin Pietersen (Rs 3.5 crore to RPSG), and Dwayne Smith (Rs 2.3 crore to Gujarat Lions) were the other top draws among the marquee players in the auction which was beamed live to millions of viewers.
Unheralded West Indian batsman Carlos Brathwaite was a surprise gainer fetching a whopping Rs 4.2 crore fee from the Delhi Daredevils, a huge jump from his base price of Rs 30 lakh.
Another top pick was Indian pacer Mohit Sharma, who was taken by Kings XI Punjab for Rs 6.5 crore.
The auction saw celebrity owners like Nita Ambani (Mumbai Indians), Preity Zinta (Kings XI Punjab) and Vijay Mallya (Royal Challengers Bangalore) and former players such as Ricky Ponting, Stephen Fleming, VVS Laxman, Tom Moody, Brad Hodge and Daniel Vettori actively involved in the bidding process for their respective franchises.
After the marquee players were sold out in the very first batch, the auction lacked fizz with several players going unsold.
Surprisingly, Australia's T20 captain Aaron Finch, New Zealand's big-hitting batsman Martin Guptill, Australia's former captain George Bailey, South African Hashim Amla, and retired players like Mahela Jayawardene, Michael Hussey and Brad Haddin went unsold.
"I don't agree (that Yuvraj did not evoke interest among bidders). If you look at the bidding we were very interested, but issues of bidding and price ceiling issues, did not allow us to go for him. He is really a marquee player and hope he plays for us sometime in the future," RCB Director Amrit Thomas told reporters here.
Australian all-rounder Mitchell Marsh fetched a good deal from the Pune franchise, which bid Rs 4.8 crore for the enterprising player.
Gujarat also bought South African pacer Dale Steyn and West Indian all-rounder Dwayne Smith for the same price.
Pune also got Pietersen for Rs 3.5 crore (USD 515,000), the first player to go under the hammer, even though Gujarat Lions also bid intensely for the dashing
England batsman.
However, the player to hit the pay dirt was definitely Watson, who recently hit a smashing century in the third T20 International against India recently.
Watson has retired from the longer format but his 130-135 kmph seam-up stuff has also turned out to be handy on Indian pitches.
Mumbai Indians loosened their purse strings for a couple of unexpected players, buying English stumper Jos Buttler (Rs 3.8 crore) and New Zealand pacer Tim Southee (2.5 crore ).
The Indian pace duo of Praveen Kumar and Irfan Pathan, both of whom have been out of reckoning from the national side, also found buyers.
Gujarat also picked Indian medium-pacer Dhawal Kulkarni for Rs 2 crore. South African pacer Kyle Abbott went to Kings XI Punjab for 2.10 crore.
Indian all-rounder Stuart Binny was sold for his base price of Rs 2 crore to Royal Challengers Bangalore. Another Indian pacer Barinder Sran, who made an impression during the recent ODI series against Australia, was bought for Rs 1.2 crore by Sunrisers Hyderabad.