Bangalore, Feb 16:
Indian all-rounder Yuvraj Singh set a new record as he emerged as the costliest ever buy in the Indian Premier League by going for a whopping Rs 16 crore to Delhi Daredevils while an unheralded K C Cariappa was a surprise pick in the eighth players’ auction here today.
In a relatively low key auction, Yuvraj triggered an unexpected bidding war with four teams vying for the 33-year-old cricketer’s services before Delhi clinched the deal for a record price.
That Yuvraj, who had been bought for Rs 14 crore by Royal Challengers Bangalore last year, went for such a big price came as a huge surprise given the fact that he is no longer in the Indian team. His current form, however, has been good which could have led to the franchises showing interest in him.
“I think we learnt from last year, and that if we want a player we need to push hard for him. Hence we were prepared to go all the way with Yuvraj and it’s great for the player as well,” Delhi coach Gary Kirsten said justifying the record bid for Yuvraj.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik was another player, who commanded a massive price, going to RCB for Rs 10.50 crore at a glitzy auction attended by business bigwigs, Bollywood stars like Preity Zinta and former cricketers such as Anil Kumble, Ricky Ponting, Stephen Fleming and VVS Laxman — part of various teams’ support staff.
A 20-year-old Cariappa, an off-spinner who has not even played a first-class match, was a stunning pick by the Kolkata Knight Riders. Cariappa was bought for a Rs 2.40 crore in what was perhaps the most shocking buy in an auction where veterans such as Kumar Sangakkara went unsold despite being brought back in the pool thrice.
Sri Lankan captain Angelo Mathew (Rs 7.5 crore to DD), New Zealand pacer Trent Boult (Rs 3.80 crore to Sunrisers Hyderabad), Indian leg-spinner Amit Mishra (Rs 3.50 crore to DD) and Australian opener Aaron Finch (Rs 3.20 crore to Mumbai Indians) were among those who fetched a good price at the auction.
Sri Lankan stalwarts Mahela Jayawardene and Tillakaratne Dilshan, Indian pacer Irfan Pathan, South African batsman Hashim Amla and New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor went unsold in the initial rounds of the auction. They might still find a buyer in the final round of bidding. Indian pacer Zaheer Khan, who initially went unsold, suddenly saw a dramatic change in his fortunes when he was brought back in the pool as he went for a hefty Rs 4 crore to Delhi Daredevils.
In all, 88 players went under hammer, of which the franchises bought 67. 23 of the players sold today were overseas picks. The franchises shelled out Rs 87.6 crore in purchasing the players today.
Yuvraj, who carried a base price of Rs 2 crore, was sold after a fierce tug of war for his services between Delhi Daredevils and Royal Challengers Bangalore, who bought him last year for Rs 14 crore, at a city hotel here.
Initially, there was four-way bidding among Rajasthan Royals, Royal Challengers, Kings XI Punjab and Delhi Daredevils to buy India’s 2011 World Cup hero in the auction conducted by Richard Madley. But once the bidding reached Rs 7 crore, RR and KXIP quit, leaving DD and RCB in the fray.
Delhi Daredevils, who had the largest purse of Rs 39.75 crore among all the eight franchises taking part in the auction, also bought Mathews for Rs 7.5 crore, the third highest price in the first two rounds of auction.
RCB, who lost to DD in their bid to get Yuvraj and Mathews, bought Karthik for the second highest price, even though it was Rs 1.5 crore lower than the amount he was bought for by DD last year.
Surprisingly, former England captain Kevin Pietersen, who was bought for Rs 9 crore last year by DD, could get just Rs 2 crore as he was sold to Sunrisers Hyderabad at the base price.
Other players sold in the auction were India Test opener Murali Vijay for Rs 3 crore (to KXIP), England’s Eoin Morgan (Rs 1.5 crore by SRH) and New Zealand’s Kane Williamson (Rs 60 lakh by SRH).
New Zealand fast bowler Trent Boult also fetched an impressive sum of Rs 3.8 crore from his base price of Rs 50 lakh as he was bought by SRH who joined in after initial bidding between RCB and MI.
There was also intense bidding for Indian pacer Praveen Kumar, who was bought by SRH for Rs 2.20 crore. SRH also strengthened their squad by buying England all-rounder Ravi Bopara for Rs one crore.
Two other all-rounders in West Indian Darren Sammy and South African David Wiese went to RCB for an identical Rs 2.80 crore. RCB also bought young Australian pacer Sean Abbott for Rs 1 crore.
Veteran Australian Michael Hussey returned to Chennai Super Kings at his base price of Rs 1.5 crore.
Indian-origin Australian pacer Gurinder Sandhu, who has played just two ODIs so far, was the surprise pick for Rs 1.7 crore by big spenders Delhi Daredevils who also bought pacer Jaydev Unadkat for Rs 1.1 crore. Left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha also returned to Mumbai Indians for Rs 50 lakh.
Besides CSK, Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals were the other franchises who did not spend much in the auction. RR bought South African all-rounder Christopher Morris for Rs 1.4 crore.
Among the prominent Indians, Cheteshwar Pujara, Pankaj Singh and Munaf Patel could not find any takers
Brad Hodge, Alex Hales, Cameron White, Luke Ronchi, and Marlon Samuels, were among the foreign players who sid not have any takers. (PTI)
List of players who were sold in the IPL 8 auction.
CHENNAI SUPER KINGS
Michael Hussey batsman 1,50,00,000
Irfan Pathan Allrounder 1,50,00,000
Rahul Sharma Bowler 30,00,000
Kyle Abbott Bowler 30,00,000
Andrew Tye Bowler 20,00,000
Pratyush Singh All-Rounder 10,00,000
Ankush Bains Wicket Keeper 10,00,000
Eklavya Dwivedi Wicket Keeper 10,00,000
DELHI DAREDEVILS
Yuvraj Singh Batsman 16,00,00,000
Angelo Mathews All-Rounder 7,50,00,000
Zaheer Khan Bowler 4,00,00,000
Amit Mishra Bowler 3,50,00,000
Shreyas Iyer Batsman 2,60,00,000
Gurinder Sandhu Bowler 1,70,00,000
Jaydev Unadkat Bowler 1,10,00,000
Domnic Joseph Bowler 75,00,000
Albie Morkel All-Rounder 30,00,000
Travis Head Batsman 30,00,000
Marcus Stoinis All-Rounder 25,00,000
CM Gautam Wicket Keeper 20,00,000
Kona Srikar Bharat Wicket Keeper 10,00,000
KK Jiyaz Bowler 10,00,000
KINGS XI PUNJAB
Murali Vijay Batsman 3,00,00,000
Nikhil Shankar Naik Wicket Keeper 30,00,000
Yogesh Gowalkar All-Rounder 10,00,000
KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS
KC Cariappa Bowler 2,40,00,000
James Neesham All-Rounder 50,00,000
Brad Hogg Bowler 50,00,000
Aditya Garhwal All-Rounder 25,00,000
Sheldon Jackson Batsman 15,00,000
Sumit Narwal All-Rounder 10,00,000
Vaibhav Rawal All-Rounder 10,00,000.
MUMBAI INDIANS
Aaron Finch Batsman 3,20,00,000
Pragyan Ojha Bowler 50,00,000
Abhimanyu Mithun Bowler 30,00,000
Mitchell McClenaghan Bowler 30,00,000
Aiden Blizzard Batsman 30,00,000
Hardik Pandya All-Rounder 10,00,000
Akshay Wakhare Bowler 10,00,000
Nitish Rana All-Rounder 10,00,000
Siddhesh Dinesh Lad All-Rounder 10,00,000
J Suchitch All-Rounder 10,00,000
RAJASTHAN ROYALS
Christopher Morris All-Rounder 1,40,00,000
Juan Theron Bowler 30,00,000
Barinder Singh Saran Bowler 10,00,000
Dinesh Salunkhe All-Rounder 10,00,000
Sagar Trivedi All-Rounder 10,00,000
Pardeep Sahu All-Rounder 10,00,000
ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE
Dinesh Karthik Wicket Keeper 10,50,00,000
Darren Sammy All-Rounder 2,80,00,000
David Wiese All-Rounder 2,80,00,000
Sean Abbott Bowler 1,00,00,000
Adam Milne Bowler 70,00,000
Sarfaraz Naushad Khan Batsman 50,00,000
Subramaniam Badrinath Batsman 30,00,000
Jalaj Saxena All-Rounder 10,00,000
Shshir Bhavane Batsman 10,00,000
SUNRISERS HYDERABAD
Trent Boult Bowler 3,80,00,000
Praveen Kumar Bowler 2,20,00,000
Kevin Pietersen Batsman 2,00,00,000
Eoin Morgan Batsman 1,50,00,000
Ravi Bopara All-Rounder 1,00,00,000
Kane Williamson All-Rounder 60,00,000
Laxmi Ratan Shukla All-Rounder 30,00,000
Prasanth Padmanabhan All-Rounder 10,00,000
Hanuma Vihari Batsman 10,00,000
Siddarth Kaul Bowler 10,00,000.
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