$27.5 mn spent for 27 players; Gambhir still the costliest

By lunch time a total of $27.5 million were spent for 27 marquee players by the 10 franchisees for the forthcoming fourth edition of DLF IPL which will be held during April 20 - May 8

Bangalore-based player Robin Uthappa was among the top sought after players in the second lot of marquee players on the first day of auction going for $2.1 million to Team Pune. At the end of the second break Gautam Gambhir is still the costlier player at $2.4 million followed by Yusuf Pathan and Robin Uthappa at $2.1 million.

Saurav Ganguly was the first player to go unsold apart from West Indies all-rounder Chris Gayle.  Perhaps the fact that Pakistan  - West Indies series starting from April 21 may be the reason for Gayle not attracting any bids.

 

Rahul Dravid and V V S Laxman were the least sought after as they went for their respective or a little over their reserve price as teams bid aggresively for young blood.

Sourav Ganguly  - first unsold player

Cameon White  - Deccan Charges - $1.1 million

Jacques Kallis - Kolkata Knigt Riders - $1.1 million

Rohit Sharma - Mumbai Indians - $2 million

Andrew Symonds - Mumbai Indians $850,000

Kumar Sangakkara - Deccan Chargers - $700,000

Adam Gilchrist - Kings XI Punjab - $900,000

Rahul Dravid - Rajasthan Royals - $500,000

Graeme Smith - Team Pune - $500,000

Robin Uthappa  - Team Pune - $2.1 million

Johan Botha -  Rajasthan Royals - $950,000

V V S Laxman  - Team Kochi - $400,000

Daniel Vettori - Royal Challengers Bangalore - $550,000

Brendon McCullam - Team Kochi - $475,000

Sreesanth - Team Kochi - $900,000

Chris Gayle - Unsold

Irfan Pathan - Delhi Daredevils  - $1.9 million

R P Singh - Team Kochi - $500,000

By end of lunch break, Kolkata Knight Riders were the highest spenders at $5.6 million followed by Team Pune at $4.4 million and Team Kochi at $3.7 million. The latter two were obviously aggresive bidders as this is their maiden IPL play and were keen to take some key marquee players.