Pollard, Bond costliest players at IPL auction

The explosive Caribbean all-rounder Kieron Pollard and New Zealand paceman Shane Bond emerged as the most expensive players, being sold for a whopping $750,000 (app Rs 3.42 crore) at the auction for the third edition of the Indian Premier League here today.

It was a four-way tie among Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders to grab Pollard and eventually Mumbai won the player through a silent tie-breaker bid in the high profile auction, which saw no Pakistani player being sold out.

The price of the silent bid was not disclosed by the organisers with IPL Chairman Lalit Modi saying that the information will be confined to the bidders and them.

Like Pollard, a keen tussle was witnessed to grab Kiwi paceman Bond with Kolkata Knight Riders and Deccan Chargers making the highest bid.

After a tie-breaker, the Kolkata grabbed the paceman.

West Indies paceman Kemar Roach was the second costliest player sold to Deccan Chargers for $720,000.

Delhi Daredevils bought South African all rounder Wayne Parnell for $610,000 against a base price of $200,000.

Rajasthan Royals bought retired Australian Damien Martyn for $100,000 apart from securing the services of Adam Voges for $50,000.

Chennai Super Kings recalled South African Justin Kemp by paying $100,000 and also bought emerging Sri Lankan batsman Thisara Perera for $50,000.

Mohammed Kaif, the only Indian player featuring in the auction, went unsold in the first round but was later bought by Kings XI Punjab for $250,000. They also recalled South African Yusuf Abdullah.

Royal Challengers Bangalore bid for just one player and got England's Eoin Morgan for $220,000.

In all, 56 players remained unsold out of 67 that went under the hammer.

Three Under-19 Indian players at a fixed price of Rs 8 lakh were also in the auction list.

Royal Challengers Bangalore chose U-19 skipper Ashok Maneria, Deccan Chargers preferred Harmeet Singh and Mumbai Indians opted for Harshal Patel.

The third edition of the extremely popular Twenty20 tournament will begin from March 12.