Yuvraj Singh and Dinesh Karthik remained the biggest buys in the Indian T20 League auctions, which has seen some wise purchasing so far. While Yuvraj went to Bangalore for Rs 14 crore, Delhi bagged Karthik for Rs 12.50 crore.
Mumbai bought former Australian batsman Michael Hussey for Rs 5 crore and appeared rather happy to have netted the southpaw, who had a productive stint with Chennai till last year. New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum was a steal for Chennai at Rs 3.25 crore.
Among the pacers, Australia’s Mitchell Starc was the highest bid player, going to Bangalore for Rs 5 crore while Indian seamers Mohammad Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar went for Rs 4.25 crore each to Delhi and Hyderabad respectively.
Piyush Chawla was the most expensive spinner in the trading today, running away with Rs 4.25 crore to play with Kolkata. The 2012 champions have made some wise investments, so far, which include explosive opener Robin Uthappa for Rs 5 crore and pacer Umesh Yadav for Rs 2.6 crore.
The other Indian medium-pacers were picked up eagerly by the franchisees who were looking to add more teeth to their attack. Ashish Nehra, Mohit Sharma, Varun Aaron and Jaydev Unadkat all snapped up at least Rs. 2 Cr. Nehra and Sharma were picked up by Chennai while Aaron and Unadkat went to Bangalore and Delhi respectively.
Only three from the first list of the wicketkeepers found buyers – Quinton de Kock, the South African, who cracked three consecutive ODI hundreds against India late last year, went to Delhi for Rs 3.5 crore while Wriddhiman Saha moved from Chennai to Punjab for Rs 2.2 crore. Bangalore bagged discarded India stumper Parthiv Patel for Rs 1.4 crore.
Kolkata matched Punjab’s bid of Rs 3.25 crore to snatch all-rounder Yusuf Pathan, who had begun to show some form late into the last edition of the Indian T20 League. His brother Irfan, once India’s brightest fast bowling hope, will now play for Hyderabad for Rs 2.4 crore.
Rajasthan made yet another smart purchase, signing up Australia’s Steve Smith for Rs 4 crore while Bangalore dug deep into their fast dwindling purse to buy South African all-rounder Albie Morkel for Rs 2.4 crore.
Chennai got hold hold of Faf du Plessis and Hyderabad roped in Amit Mishra – both players went for Rs 4.75 crore each, using their Right to Match options.
Earlier today, Murali Vijay, the first to go under the hammer, was bought by Delhi for Rs 5 crore, who incidentally rejected both Virender Sehwag and David Warner in their ‘Right to Match’ call. While Sehwag went to Punjab for Rs 3.20 crore, Warner pocketed a cool Rs 5.50 crore with Hyderabad.
Two other teams did use the option though – Pietersen, who was clearly a hot favourite bagged Rs 9 crore, with Hyderabad bidding aggressively for him, before Delhi stepped in and matched their offer. Kallis, too went back to Kolkata, who matched Chennai’s Rs 5.50 crore offer.
Punjab also picked up Australian pace spearhead Mitchell Johnson with an offer of Rs 6.50 crore in order to spruce up their bowling attack, which largely revolved on medium-pace and spin last year.
The most exciting bid of the day so far, was for Yuvraj, who lost his ODI spot this year, but continued to be in the scheme of things in the T20 squad for India. Bangalore, who already have the explosive Virat Kohli in their ranks, strengthened the line-up by buying Yuvraj for a whooping Rs 14 crore.
Cameron White, Andre Fletcher, Sri Lankan players like Mahela Jayawardene, Tillekaratne Dilshan, Ajantha Mendis remained unsold as did Ross Taylor, David Hussey, Praveen Kumar, Azhar Mahmood and a few others. The unsold players can be brought back on the table on Thursday at the request of the franchisees, who could then bid for them.
