On the first day of the Indian Premier league, season four auction, Indian cricketers were the real match winners in Bangalore today. Gautam Gambhir hit the jackpot with Kolkata Knight Riders’ record $ 2.4 million buy. At the end of day one, about $53 million was spent on 72 players by 10 franchisees.
Gambhir’s deal broke the previous record of English players Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff, who were knocked off for a staggering $1.55 million during the second season of IPL in 2009. Gambhir was bought at a price which was 12 times more than his base auction price of $200,000 and four teams — Mumbai Indians, Kochi and Pune — battled for him until KKR emerged from behind to be the winner.
The two-day auction of over 350 players, which was held at the Mysore hall of the ITC Royal Gardenia, and had a fair dash of glamour, created another record when over 16 players were bought for a price tag of over $1-million each. In the last two auctions, only seven players had been able to hit the $1-million mark.
Billed as the costliest cricket league, DLF IPL-4 has attracted a lot of interest from major Indian corporates and film stars, brushing aside various controversies and allegations it had got sucked into during the past year.
The domination of the Indian players was reflected in the fact that as many as seven of the 16 players who touched the one-million mark, were from India and they grabbed over 60 per cent of the $23.4 million spent on these 16 players. These seven players, on an average, have been able to get over two-fold increase in their price tags at which they were bought in the previous editions.
Players sold at more than $2 million, which is also a first in the IPL, include Gambhir, Yusuf Pathan, Rohit Sharma and Uthappa. They are all from India.
Sushanto Roy, co-owner of Pune IPL team, said: “Uthappa is a superb 20-20 player and we have picked him because we see his utility both as a keeper and as a batsman. So, we are pretty satisfied with our bid.”
While gutsy batsman Saurav Tiwary saw his price tag go up a record 16 times from his base price to $1.6 million, Abhishek Nayar saw 15 times hike to $800,000 from $50,000 for Kings X1 Punjab.
Explaining the huge premium on Indian players, P B Vanchi, director of GMR Sports which owns Delhi Dare Devils said: “There are only 48 Indian players of whom 30 are being chased by every team, so their prices will go up. Over $40 million of the $75 million to be spent on players will go to players from India.”
A similar view was echoed by Sidharth Mallya of Royal Challengers when he said: “It is Indian players who will be key to our team and surely with 10 teams now, demand is more than supply and prices of players will go up.”
The difference is again reflected in the fact that the highest price tag for a foreign player went to Mahela Jayawardane who was sold for $1.5 million, much lower than what Gambhir, Uthappa, Yusuf and Irfan Pathan got.
The 10 teams now have a remaining war chest of around $19.5 million to pick up players on Sunday from over 265 players. But at an average they have spent around three fourths of the budgeted $9 million which each franchisee is allowed to spend for its team and have bagged over seven players each.
Deccan Chargers ($3.5 million) and Delhi Daredevils ($3.16 million) are expected to go aggressive tomorrow as they have the maximum resources left. Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rajathan Royals would take a back seat with a combined purse of $2.25 million available to purchase players on the second day.
In the first day, as many as 88 players went on the block, but many leading players (16) which include Sourav Ganguly, Chris Gayle, Brian Lara, Hershell Gibbs and Mark Boucher found no takers. Experts say that one reason could be the fact that the franchisees who would be signing a two-year contract, extendable to another year, were looking for players playing international cricket or who could carry on for three years.
According to Chirayu Amin, chairman of IPL: “There was no loss of face. This is the reality of the game. It is extremely competitive and the choice of players is left to the owners. The IPL governing council has no say in this matter. The unsold players will be back in the fray after the initial rounds are over.” The unsold players may be rebid again at the same base price.
Experts say some of the prices might be just too high. Says Devraj Sanyal, CEO of Percept Sports & Entertainment: “Some of the prices surely went over the top. However, it would be interesting to see how the teams now pick up the remaining players. KKR has got a good team and even Sahara has done well (HALL OF FAME)
