Ravindra Jadeja, Mahela Jayawardena & Vinay Kumar become million dollar babies during the latest auction of the IPL. Ravindra Jadeja, as anticipated, was bagged by Chennai Super Kings for a whopping $2Million, when they locked horns with Deccan Chargers, leading into a tie breaker. An undisclosed bidding amount was given by either teams, during which CSK eventually pipped Deccan to bag this Marquee player. A lot was spoken about R.Jadeja ahead of this auction, and just a day before the auction, his performance with the ball & in the field in the final T20 game against Australia, bolstered him to back a massive amount in the auction. Chennai exhausted its allotted sum, all on one player & could not take part further in the auctions. It did look like they entered with a plan & they've successfully executed that. With Jadeja in the CSK team, it just makes the 2 time IPL champions look even more formidable & strong.
The next big catch was that of, Lankan captain, Mahela Jayawardena. He was brought over by Delhi Daredevils for a huge sum of $1.4 Million. His recent performances in various formats of the game might not have fetched him such a price, but his past laurels proved its worth bagging him the second highest price in the auction. But the surprise of the morning was that of Vinay Kumar who was sold for an unimaginable $1Million to Royal Challengers Bangalore, with a base price of just $100,000. Not that he has been in sublime form or looked even close to posing threats with the ball. RCB went all out to get Vinay Kumar back in their hut, & the reasons for the same remain known only by RCB & their think-tank. RCB just made on more purchase today, that of the ever-available spin wizard, Muthaiah Muralitharan for $220,000. That makes RCB more versatile, but the playing combination of 4 foreigners will be key.
One interesting observation is that, all the 3 top priced players who were sold in this auction belonged to the terminated team of Kochi Tuskers Kerala. However bizarre it might sound sound, it still stays the truth.
Another surprise was the buy of west Indian spinner, Sunil Narine, was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders for a huge amount of $700,000 who had a base price of just $50,000. KKR went on to buy back Brendon McCullum for $900,000, which was a needed buy for them, as they required a good keeper & as well as an explosive opener. South African quickie, Marchant de Lange was purchased by KKR at his base price of $50,000. This move could have been prompted keeping in mind that he might not figure in the main South African Line up when they're on their international duties.
Delhi Daredevils were close to exhausting their purse, with buying 3 very interesting foreign players, including Mahela Jayawardena. DD fought for Andre Russel with the Chargers & eventually owned him for $450,000. Russell was expected to fetch a big price for his acrobatics & versatility, both with the bat & ball & moreover, him playing alongside Warner, Sehwag, Mahela, Varun & Umesh makes the team look like a top contender this time around.
Kings XI Punjab made 3 mediocre buys in the form of Powar, Faulkner & Azhar Mahmood. Faulkner's effectiveness in the sub continent conditions will be tested. But playing under Gilchrist can make him feel much better. Ex-Pakistani, Azhar Mahmood makes a comeback, this time with a British passport & his effectiveness as an all-rounder is still yet to be ascertained, after missing from the sub-continent for quite a while.
Deccan Chargers fought neck-in-neck with most of the big buys, but they had to settle with an interesting tray of purchase. They went hard in acquiring Parthiv Patel for a good sum of $650,000, inspite of his lackluster performance in the recent past. Australian Dan Harris was brought in the second round of auctions & 'Lara-replica' Darren Bravo was was bought at his base price as well. The chargers will be relatively happy with the purchases, hoping that they put a better performance atleast in the coming editions of IPL.
Rajasthan Royals went with their usual strategy of picking low-key players & making a winner out of them. The royals totally had 5 purchases & all of them capable of taking them till the final stretch. They bagged a very interesting line up of hard hitting Brad Hodge, the veteran spinner Brad Hogg, Sreesanth, Dinesh Chandimal & Kevon Cooper. The stand out point is that atleast 3 of the 5 current buys are certain to be available throughout the series, which gives them the much needed flexibility & dependence.
Finally the most well strategized approach with the best buys at throw away prices belonged to Mumbai Indians. They had already made a terrific move by transferring Dinesh Karthik into their team & during this auction they went to buy 5 game changing players into their team. The steal was buying south africans Gibbs, Peterson & Aussie Johnson at their base prices. The remaining 2 buys were that of RP Singh & the lankan power house Thisara Perera. Alleast 3 of the 5 men, can win you the games single handed. Their approach was very well thought out with a mix of aggression & brilliance of planning. The brains behind this ought to be Robin Singh & Shaun Pollock.
The other highlights of the auction were that, none of the English players were sold, including the midas-man of T20 cricket, Owais Shah. It was baffling to see him unsold after an eccentric performance in the recently concluded Big Bash League. Of the many people who missed the IPL ticket, another surprise was Proteas Fast bowling revelations, Tsosobe & Philander weren't sold either. This could be mainly owing to their international commitments.
A widely spoken about Kevin O Brian, was in the unsold list too. With a lot feeling that not enough importance is given to the associate nations, where their players are being snubbed. Of the Hundreds who went under the hammer, none of the players from associate nations were sold. I personally feel that's were BPL scores over the IPL, with their rule of atleast one player from the associate nation should be part of the team.
But all-in-all, the teams believe that they have strengthened their team to a greater extent in pursuit of that coveted trophy, atleast on paper. The execution, availability & the strategy is much awaited for the latest edition of IPL. And also, It was an auction which has made up life more comfortable for a lot players & also leaves you with a disappointment for key players who haven't made it beyond the hammer !
The list of the players who were sold are as below (Team wise) along with their auctioned price & their base price:
Kolkata Knight Riders
- Brendon McCullum - $900,000 (base price $400,000)
- Sunil Narine - $700,000 (base price $50,000)
- Marchant de Lange - $50,000 (base price $50,000)
Chennai Super Kings
- Ravindra Jadeja - $2 million (base price $100,000).
Royal Challengers Bangalore
- Muttiah Muralitharan - $220,000 (base price $200,000)
- Vinay Kumar - $1 million (base price $100,000)
Delhi Daredevils
- Mahela Jayawardene - $1.4 million (base price $300,000)
- Andre Russell - $450,000 (base price $50,000)
- Doug Bracewell - $50,000 (base price $50,000)
Mumbai Indians
- Herschelle Gibbs - $50,000 (base price $50,000)
- Mitchell Johnson - $300,000 (base price $300,000)
- RP Singh - $600,000 (base price $200,000)
- Robin Peterson - $100,000 (base price $100,000)
- Thisara Perera - $650,000 (base price $50,000)
Rajasthan Royals
- Brad Hodge - $475,000 (base price $200,000)
- Dinesh Chandimal - $50,000 (base price $50,000)
- Sreesanth - $400,000 (base price $400,000)
- Brad Hogg - $180,000 (base price $100,000)
- Kevon Cooper - $50,000 (base price 50,000)
Deccan Chargers
- Parthiv Patel - $650,000 (base price $200,000)
- Daniel Harris - $70,000 (base price 50,000)
- Darren Bravo - $100,000 (base price $100,000)
Kings XI Punjab
- Ramesh Powar - $160,000 (base price $100,000)
- James Faulkner - $190,000 (base price $100,000)
- Azhar Mahmood - $200,000 (base price $100,000)
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