English cricketers collectively bagged $4.10 million (about Rs 19.6 crore).
English cricketers dominated the second leg of the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction, the Twenty20 cricket tournament promoted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), as five of the 17 foreign players auctioned today were from England.
Former England captains Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff bagged the maximum fees of $1.55 million (Rs 7.44 crore) each — the highest paid for any IPL cricketer, overtaking the record held by Indian captain MS Dhoni last year at $1.5 million (Rs 7.2 crore).
English cricketers collectively took away $4.10 million (about Rs 19.6 crore) or nearly 54 per cent of the total money ($7.60 million, or about Rs 36.48 crore) spent by the eight franchise teams today on player auctions. Last year, none of the English players was available for the inaugural IPL tournament. The second leg of the IPL tournament will be played between April 10 and May 24 across metros in the country.
The eight teams had a collective corpus of $13.59 million (individual cap of around $2 million per team) to choose from a pool of 50 players. Last year, 86 players were available within a total spending pool of $40 million or a spending cap of $5 million per team including nearly 40 Indian cricketers. Ultimately, 75 players were bought at last year’s auction, including 39 Indian cricketers.
Several sports analysts termed it a “very high price”, considering the English cricketers will be available for only three out of the six weeks of IPL. "The IPL schedules are made in such a way that not more than five to six matches will be played during the three weeks for which the English players will be available. Therefore, paying an extremely high price for two English players does not make sense," a sports consultant to one of the franchise teams said, requesting anonymity.
IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi said the contracts of all the auctioned players will be for two years.
"A player like Pietersen is a great buy for us. He is one of the most explosive batsmen in the world and will bring a lot of class to our team," said Vijay Mallya, promoter of Royal Challengers Bangalore, which finished seventh out of the eight teams last year.
BCCI Secretary N Srinivasan, who owns Chennai Super Kings, said he was delighted to have all-rounder Flintoff on board. "Twenty20 format cricket is a game for all-rounders and Flintoff is one of the best around," said Srinivasan, whose team lost to Rajasthan Royals in last year’s final.
Bangladeshi fast bowler Mashrafe Mortaza who was sold to Kolkata Knight Riders for $600,000 — a team promoted by film star Shah Rukh Khan — became the first player in IPL to have been sold for 12 times his base price. Both Kings XI Punjab, promoted by Bollywood actress Preity Zinta and Ness Wadia of Bombay Dyeing, and Kolkata Knight Riders fought over Mortaza, which resulted in his price getting escalated from $50,000 to $600,000.
| BULL FUN AT IPL AUCTION | |||
| Player | Sold To | Buying Price ($) | Base Price ($) |
| Shaun Tait (Australia) | Rajasthan Royals | 375,000 | 250,000 |
| Fidel Edwards (West Indies) | Deccan Chargers | 150,000 | 150,000 |
| Owais Shah (England) | Delhi Daredevils | 275,000 | 150,000 |
| Paul Collingwood (England) | Delhi Daredevils | 275,000 | 150,000 |
| Tyron Henderson (South Africa) | Rajasthan Royals | 650,000 | 100,000 |
| Ravi Bopara (England) | King’s XI, Punjab | 450,000 | 150,000 |
| Thilan Thusara (Sri Lanka) | Chennai Super Kings | 140,000 | 100,000 |
| Jesse Ryder (New Zealand) | Bangalore Royal Challengers | 160,000 | 100,000 |
| Kyle Mills (New Zealand) | Mumbai Indians | 150,000 | 150,000 |
| Dwayne Smith (West Indies) | Deccan Chargers | 100,000 | 100,000 |
| Mashrafe Mortaza (Bangladesh) | Kolkata Knight Riders | 600,000 | 50,000 |
| George Bailey (Australia) | Chennai Super Kings | 50,000 | 50,000 |
| Unsold, but allotted to Mumbai, Punjab teams | |||
| Jerome Taylor (West Indies) | Kings XI Punjab | 150,000 | 150,000 |
| Mohammad Ashraful (Bangladesh) | Mumbai Indians | 75,000 | 75,000 |
South African all-rounder Tyron Henderson was bought by Rajasthan Royals for $650,000 (about Rs 3.18 crore), a massive jump from his base price of $100,000. England all-rounder Ravi Bopara was bought by Kings XI Punjab for $450,000 (about Rs 2.20 crore), three times his base price of $150,000.
Mumbai Indians, the team owned by Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries, took South African batsman JP Duminy for $950,000, more than three times his base price of $300,000. English cricketer Owais Shah and Paul Collingwood went to Delhi Daredevils for $275,000 each, while the defending champions Rajasthan Royals outbid Deccan Chargers and bought Australian pace bowler Shaun Tait for $375,000.
As many as 50 players threw their hat in the ring for the 17 slots available to franchisees. The unlucky ones could still make the grade at a later date to replace the absent Pakistan cricketers.
