The eight franchisees at the auction for Indian Premier League Season 5 went about their business of bidding with a sense of optimism, despite the twin setbacks the game had on Saturday morning.
While Sahara India withdrew from its cricket sponsorship, Pune Warriors pulled out of this year's IPL. Mr Rajiv Shukla, Chairman, IPL, however, ruled out any impact and said that the “show will continue.”
The auction started with 144 players going under the hammer and franchisees with a purse of $15.3 million. It ended with the franchisees spending $11 million on 25 players, out of the 37 slots available.
The most-expensive catch of the day was all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja by Chennai Super Kings (CSK), after a fierce round of bidding against Deccan Chargers, which the former won by a tie-breaker.
Jadeja cost CSK a cool $2 million. Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene moved from Kochi Tuskers to Delhi Daredevils for $1.4 million, and Muttiah Muralitharan moved to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for $220,000. RCB focussed on local hero Vinay Kumar returning home at a cost of $1 million.
Both CSK and RCB came prepared with their wish-lists topped by Ravindra Jadeja and Vinay Kumar, respectively. Mr Siddharth Mallya, Director, RCB, said, “We came prepared to buy Vinay and did it.”
According to a spokesperson from India Cements, which owns CSK, “Ravindra Jadeja's approach to the game matches with CSK's philosophy of ‘fearless entertainers' who play to win. We paid the amount for someone who has been delivering consistently.”
No takers
Among iconic players who remained unsold were V.V.S. Laxman, James Anderson, Darren Bravo and Ramnaresh Sarwan.
West Indian spinner Sunil Narine was the surprise of the day. Although new to the IPL field, he commanded $700,000 from Kolkota Knight Riders. Other fresh entrants to the IPL arena this year are Dinesh Chandimal of Sri Lanka for Rajasthan Royals, South Africans Robin John Peterson, Merchant de Lange and Herschelle Gibbs, all for Mumbai Indians.
The auction process, marked by hectic bidding in the pre-lunch session, lost its tempo by 3 p.m. While 17 players were snapped up in the first session, post-lunch, the franchisees picked up just eight players.
Franchise owners present at the auction were Bollywood super-star Shah Rukh Khan; Ms Nita Ambani with Reliance top honcho Mr Nikhil Meswani; RCB director Mr Siddharth Mallya along with former cricketer Anil Kumble; Ms Gayatri Reddy of Deccan Chargers; and Mr Kiran Kumar Grandhi of Delhi Daredevils. IPL Season 5 is scheduled to begin on April 4 in Chennai.