Bangalore, Jan 8: Brian Lara, Sourav Ganguly, Chris Gayle, Jesse Ryder and Herschelle Gibbs were the four players to go unsold in Indian Premier League-4 auction in Bangalore on Saturday. Both Ganguly and Gayle, former West Indies skipper and a big hitter, were part of Knight Riders in the first three editions and
related stories had the base price $400,000, reserved for marquee players.
Ganguly failed to attract any buyer at the auction being held at the ITC Royal Gardenia. Ganguly was earlier placed in the $200,000 price bracket, but he later increased his base price to $400,000, which is the highest bracket for marquee players in the league.
Ganguly, who was the oldest Indian player up for auction at 38 years and six months, had a tough time with Knight Riders and was also removed from captaincy in the second edition in South Africa. Ganguly, however, came back to lead the side after Dave Whatmore took over the coaching from John Buchanan last year.
But Knight Riders were not interested in Ganguly and released him for the fourth edition.
During Ganguly’s auction, the spotlight was on the Knight Riders’ table, but the team’s think tank looked down as his name was repeatedly called before he went to the unsold basket.
There were also reports that Sahara-owned Pune Warriors may buy him at a base price, but they may have changed their mind after Ganguly hiked the price.
The post-lunch session too saw many unsold players as there were no takers for Brian Lara, Herschelle Gibbs and Jesse Ryder.
Kings XI Punjab, meanwhile, retained Shaun Marsh in their team as they re-bought him for base price USD 400,000.
Bangalore Royal Challengers purchased Ranchi-lad Saurabh Tiwary for a high sum of USD 1.6 million after a hard fought battle against the Kings XI Punjab.
Punjab soon made up for Tiwary’s loss as they also notched up Australia’s power-packed middle order all-rounder David Hussey for US 1.4 million.
PLAYERS’ AUCTION
# David Jacobs (South Africa): Base Price: USD 20,000; Sold For: USD 190,000 to Mumbai Indians
# Mark Boucher (South Africa): Base Price: USD 200,000; Unsold
# Matt Prior (England): Base Price: USD 200,000; Unsold
# Tim Paine (Australia): Base Price: USD 100,000; Sold For: USD 270,000 to Sahara Pune Warriors
# Brad Haddin (Australia): Base Price: USD 200,000; Sold For: USD 325,000 to Kolkata Knight Riders
# Naman Ojha (India): Base Price: USD 100,000; Sold For: USD 270,000 to Delhi Daredevils
# Dinesh Karthik (India): Base Price: USD 200,000; Sold For: USD 900,000 to Kings XI Punjab
# Wriddhiman Saha (India): Base Price: USD 100,000; Sold For: USD 100,000 to Chennai Super Kings
# Parthiv Patel (India): Base Price: USD 100,000; Sold For: USD 290,000 to Team Kochi
# Graham Manou (Australia): Base Price: USD 50,000; Not Sold
# Brian Lara (West Indies): Base Price: USD 400,000; Not Sold
# David Warner (Australia): Base Price: USD 200,000; Sold For: USD 750,000 to Delhi Daredevils
# David Hussey (Australia): Base Price: USD 300,000; Sold For: USD 1,400,000 to Kings XI Punjab
# Saurabh Tiwary(India): Base Price: USD 100,000; Sold For: USD 1,600,000 to Royal Challengers Bangalore
# Shikhar Dhawan (India): Base Price: USD 100,000; Sold For: USD 300,000 to Deccan Chargers
# Shaun Marsh (Australia): Base Price: USD 400,000; Sold For: USD 400,000 to Kings XI Punjab
# JP Duminy (South Africa): Base Price: USD 200,000; Sold For: USD 300,000 to Deccan Chargers
# Michael Hussey (Australia): Base Price: USD 200,000; Sold For: USD 425,000 to Chennai Super Kings
# Herschelle Gibbs (South Africa): Base Price: USD 200,000; Not Sold
# Jesse Ryder (New Zealand): Base Price: USD 100,000; Not Sold
Players’ Auction: Second Session
The second segment of the players’ auction for the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League was a shocker. There were no takers for the former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly and former West Indies captain Chris Gayle, both of whom were earlier part of Kolkata Knight Riders.
KKR, instead, bought South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis for USD 1.1 million. Cameron White became the first Australian player to be sold this year as he was bought by Deccan Chargers for USD 1.1 million.
Mumbai Indian’s made their first purchase of the day as they grabbed local boy Rohit Sharma for an exploding sum of USD 2 million. The franchisee also purchased Andrew Symonds, who will now be sharing the dressing room with his old-time foe, Harbhajan Singh (already retained by the team).
Delhi Daredevils to made their first purchase, buying Irfan Pathan for USD 1.9 million.
Team Kochi, on the other, continued to build their team as they purchased RP Singh (USD 500,000), S Sreesanth (USD 900,000), Brendon McCullum (USD 475,000) and VVS Laxman (USD 400,000).
# RP Singh (India): Base Price: USD 200,000; Sold For: USD 500,000 to Team Kochi
# Irfan Pathan (India): Base Price: USD 200,000; Sold For: USD 1,900,000 to Delhi Daredevils
# Chris Gayle (West Indies): Base Price: USD 400,000; Not Sold
# S Sreesanth (India): Base Price: USD 200,000; Sold For: USD 900,000 to Team Kochi
# Brendon McCullum (New Zealand): Base Price: USD 400,000; Sold For: USD 475,000 to Team Kochi
# Daniel Vettori (New Zealand): Base Price: USD 400,000; Sold For: USD 550,000 to Royal Challengers Bangalore
# VVS Laxman (India): Base Price: USD 400,000; Sold For: USD 400,000 to Team Kochi
# Johan Botha (South Africa): Base Price: USD 200,000; Sold For: USD 950,000 to Rajasthan Royals
# Robin Uthappa (India): Base Price: USD 200,000; Sold For: USD 2,100,000 to Sahara Pune Warriors
# Graeme Smith (South Africa): Base Price: USD 400,000; Sold For: USD 500,000 to Sahara Pune Warriors
# Rahul Dravid (India): Base Price: USD 400,000; Sold For: USD 500,000 to Rajasthan Royals
# Adam Gilchrist (Australia): Base Price: USD 400,000; Sold For: USD 900,000 to Kings XI Punjab
# Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka): Base Price: USD 300,000; Sold For: USD 700,000 to Deccan Chargers
# Andrew Symonds (Australia): Base Price: USD 300,000; Sold For: Rupees 3.91 crores to Mumbai Indians
# Rohit Sharma (India): Base Price: USD 200,000; Sold For: USD 2,000,000 to Mumbai Indians
# Jacques Kallis (South Africa): Base Price: USD 300,000; Sold For: USD 1,100,000 to Kolkata Knight Riders
# Cameron White (Australia): Base Price: USD 300,000; Sold For: USD 1,100,000 to Deccan Chargers
# Sourav Ganguly (India): Base Price: USD 400,000; Not Sold
Players’ Auction: First Session
In a fight of two cats, the monkey took the cake away! That’s exactly what happened in first segment of the players’ auction.
While Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab fought for the most sought after all-rounder Yuvraj Singh, Sahara Pune Warriors made a very surprise final bid as took they the cake, Yuvraj in this case, home for a whooping amount of USD 1.8 million.
Kings XI Punjab, thus, not only lost their star Indian player, but also failed to bid successfully for their Sri Lankan top-order batsman Mahela Jayawwardene, who was grabbed by the new team in the block, Team Kochi.
However, the highlight of the first segment were Kolkata Knight Riders who grabbed two of their most priced possessions, all-rounder Yusuf Pathan (2.1 million USD) and opener batsman Gautam Gambhir (USD 2.4 million).
Royal Challengers Bangalore purchased the most number of players as they bagged AB de Villiers (USD 1.1 millions), Zaheer Khan (USD 9 million) and Tilakaratne Dilshan (USD 6.5 million).
# AB de Villiers (South Africa): Base Price: USD 400,000; Sold For: USD 1,100,000 to Royal Challengers Bangalore
# Yuvraj Singh (India): Base Price: USD 400,000; Sold For: USD 1,800,000 to Sahara Pune Warriors
# Mahela Jayawardene (Sri Lanka): Base Price: USD 400,000; Sold For: USD 1,500,000 to Team Kochi
# Kevin Pietersen (England): Base Price: USD 400,000; Sold For: USD 650,000 to Deccan Chargers
# Yusuf Pathan (India): Base Price: USD 300,000; Sold For: USD 2, 100,000 to Kolkata Knight Riders
# Ross Taylor (New Zealand): Base Price: USD 400,000; Sold For: USD 1, 000,000 to Rajasthan Royals
# Zaheer Khan (India): Base Price: USD 300,000; Sold For: USD 900,000 to Royal Challengers Bangalore
# Tilakaratne Dilshan (Sri Lanka): Base Price: USD 400,000; Sold For: USD 650,000 to Royal Challengers Bangalore
# Gautam Gambhir (India): Base Price: USD 200,000; Sold For: USD 2,400,000 to Kolkata Knight Riders