IPL teams buy 37 players for $11.89 million

The owners of Indian Premier League (IPL) teams have spent $11.89 million (around ~60 crore) to buy 37 cricketers from an extensive list of 108 players for the upcoming season. Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell fetched a whopping $1 million in the auction from Mumbai Indians. Team owners appeared much more cautious this time on selecting their buys, focusing on young talent rather than established players.

The bidding for the sixth edition of IPL started at the ITC Grand Chola, Chennai, at 11 am today and went on till 4 pm. It was conducted by Richard Madley, a professional auctioneer from London.

On winning Maxwell, Nita Ambani, owner of Mumbai Indians and wife of billionaire industrialist Mukesh Ambani, said: “He is an upcoming youngster. He can bat, bowl and I think, he is a great fielder. We had thought of some names before we came here and he was one of them.” About the effort to bring Sachin Tendulkar to lead the team, she said: “We have talked to Sachin, it would be up to him.”

Regarding winning a bid for Australian player Ricky Ponting, (who was bought by Mumbai Indians for $400,000, which was the base price), Nita Ambani said with Ponting, there would be two cricketing greats for Mumbai Indians, who would be a great inspiration for the youngsters.

Royal Challengers Bangalore and SunRisers Hyderabad bought seven and six players, respectively, while Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians bought five cricketers each.

Pune Warriors bought four, Rajasthan Royals three, Delhi Dare Devils three and Kolkata KnightRiders and Kings XI Punjab bought two players each.

In a bid where the buyers did not show much interest on spin bowlers and wicket keepers, interestingly, Sri Lankan spinner Ajantha Mendis was bought by Pune Warriors for $725,000, the second top bid in the auction. Pune Warriors also won Australian player Kane Richardson for $700,000, who had a base price of $100,000.

The bidders were predominantly looking for all-rounders and fast bowlers. Pune Warriors also won the bid for all-rounder Abhishek Nayar for $675,000, while Thisara Perera was bagged by SunRisers Hyderabad for the same amount. Chennai Super Kings bought fast bowler Dirk Nannes for $600,000, whose base price was $200,000.

Gurunath Meiyappan, representing Chennai Super Kings, said the team was looking at picking up some youngsters, though there were some buys of experienced players.

One of the reasons for the auction prices stood on and below $1 million, while last year saw higher bids, was that the contract is expected to end by end of the year. “This is not a full-fledged auction. There were some positions to be filled and there was a replacement in franchisee (replacing Deccan Chargers with SunRisers). A full-fledged auction will be there next year. So, it’s not correct to say there was no large bids like last auction,” said Rajiv Shukla, chief of IPL.

Asked about the absence of Pakistani players, he said there were several Pakistan nationals in IPL, including some of the umpires, but so far, including Pakistan players onto the list did not come up. "We have really not applied our mind on this."

Players such as Ponding, Micheal Clarke and R P Singh, who were the first on the bidding list, did not invite much attraction for counter biddings and went straight to the team on the base price, while players like South African all-rounder Christopher Morris and Sri Lankan all-rounder Sachithra Senanayake, who were available at a lower base price, saw bidders competing to win them.

Morris, who had a base price of $20,000, saw an aggressive bidding and was added to the Chennai Super Kings for $625,000 in the last part of the bid. Similarly, Sachithra Senanayake, who came up on the list with a base price of $50,000, saw a similar bidding in which Kolkata KnightRiders bought him for $625,000.

Jaydev Unadkat, an Indian player whose base price was $100,000, was bought by Royal Challengers for $525,000 against Delhi Dare Devils. Indian bowler Pankaj Singh, for whom the base price was $50,000, was picked up by Royal Challengers for $150,000. Bowler Ravi Rampal was bought by Royal Challengers for $290,000.

Fast bowler Manpreet Gony was picked up for $500,000 by Kings XI Punjab. West Indies fast bowler Fidel Edwards was picked up by Rajasthan Royals for $210,000.