IPL auction: Gambhir sold to KKR for $2.4 mn

IPL auction: Gambhir sold to KKR for $2.4 mn

Bangalore: Gautam Gambhir seems to be the star of the IPL auction today as KKR bought him for a bid of $2.4 million, while Yuvraj Singh and Yusuf Pathan were snapped up by Pune Warriors. Former KKR captain Saurav Ganguly is unsold.

Kolkata Knight Riders bought Gautam Gambhir and Yusuf Pathan for a whopping $2.4 million and $ 2.1 million as the player auction for the Season 4 of the Indian Premier League began in Bangalore.

The new IPL team Pune Warriors opened its account, buying Yuvraj Singh for $1.8 million (Rs 8.28 crore). Australian T20 captain Cameron White went to Deccan Chargers for $1.1 million.

Royal Challengers Bangalore bought Zaheer Khan for USD 900,000 and AB de Villers for $1.1 million while Sri Lankan all-rounder Tillakaratne Dilshan was bagged by Vijay Mallya's Royal Challengers for $650,000.

Rajasthan Royals bought the services of New Zealand's Ross Taylor for $1 million while England's Kevin Petersen went to Deccan Chargers for $650,000. Former West Indies captain Brian Lara and a number of England's Ashes heroes are among 350 players up for grabs at the auction in Bangalore on Saturday and Sunday.
Lara and England bowler James Anderson are among 21 cricketers with the highest reserve price of 400,000 dollars for a three-year contract, with the cash-rich Delhi and Mumbai teams likely to engage in a fierce bidding war.

Other foreign players on offer include Australians Adam Gilchrist and Brett Lee, South Africans Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis and New Zealand's Daniel Vettori. The tournament, to be held from April 8 to May 22, will feature 10 teams after Indian courts overturned the expulsion of the Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab.

Two new teams have joined the league: Kochi, who have also been involved in a nasty ownership squabble, and the Pune Warriors.

At a glance:
In all, 350 players will go under the hammer, down from 416 after the initial list was pruned.

Each franchise will have a purse of $9million to spend during this auction. The first auction held in 2008 had a salary cap of $5 million and the second in 2009 a cap of $2 million.

During the third auction a maximum signing amount of $750,000 was set, with a secret bid deciding who gets a player if multiple teams bid maximum for the same player.

This year, since the three-year contracts of players signed in the first auction have expired, teams have been allowed to retain up to four players -- three Indian and one overseas player.

However, teams which have retained a player will be going into Saturday's auction with a lesser purse. The first player retained has cost the franchisee $1.8 million, the second 1.3 million, the third $900,000 and the fourth $500,000.

Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings have retained four players and that means they go into Saturday's auction with just $4.5 million in their kitty.

Rajasthan Royals will have $5.9 million to spend, while Delhi Daredevils and Royal Challengers Bangalore will each have a balance of $7.2 million available. The other teams will have $9 million available.

Following are the players who have been retained by their respective teams:

Mumbai: Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh, Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga; Chennai: MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, M Vijay, Albie Morkel; Rajasthan: Shane Warne, Shane Watson; Delhi: Virender Sehwag; Bangalore: Virat Kohli

Source: The Indian Express