Reading most of the comments on here I'm surprised that you guys are all baffled about the selection of some players and the non-selection of others. There's no doubt Lara,Ganguly,Gayle & Tamim are surprise exclusions but then so are Bopara & Swann. I think in the case of Swann it's more to do with availability as he is England's Star spinner.There are criteria that the teams have to stick to when bidding- like the number of foreign players they can pick. I know it's old-hat now,but as a Pakistani I too was disappointed when players from the country of my birth were snubbed.I mean especially Sohail Tanvir who helped his team win the 1st IPL and being the leading wicket taker in that series. I think it was not only sad for the sport but a missed opportunity for players from both sides of the border to play alongside each other. You will agree with me no matter whether you support India/Pakistan it's so refreshing to see those guys play together.Anyway..PEACE.

Apart from IPL, Test cricket has become very interesting lately because of the level playing field created by the fall of OZs. Now if you play badly in one session, you could loose a test match. And that goes for all the top 7 nations, barring Bangla and WI. India's # 1 ranking is inflated because of too many home games. A weak bowling attack that only clicks once in a while doesn't justify it either. SA and England are top sides because of their balance in batting as well as bowling. But on any given day, Pakistan, OZs, Indians and SriLankans can beat them and that's makes it such an interesting time to watch Test matches.

the reason anderson and swann were not selected was because they would not be available for majority of the matches.

This is a punishment to Gayle by WI cricket board through BCCI. WICB must have requested the BCCI not to pick gayle as he was the captain and main test player who has not signed a central contract. BCCI instructed all the franchises not to pick gayle. No service to country no IPL.

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA Brian Lara got what he deserved. He came to India well in advance and announced that Sachin Tendulkar is the modern day Bradman and whatever only to impress upon the Franchisee owners and the Indian public and get some brownie points. But he has fell flat on his face as hard as possible. Lara was humiliated by one and all of the Franchisees as not even one of them bid for him. Now I would advise him to take the next quickest flight back home so that he can spare himself some more humiliation.

no wall,no ground,no cricket

RCB will suck this time

All hail queen shilpa, halla bol

RCB please let manish pandey to get him a team which will win

Posted by   on (January 10, 2011, 11:57 GMT)

tamim............... He is a very good cricketer .........

Now KKR has become a very strong unit this time. Gambhir, Kallis, Y. Pathan, Haddin, Shakib, Lee... Wow ! Bring it ON. See what happens when 2 quality Indian batsmen come in your team, All of a sudden it starts looking more strong than other teams having only 1 or No quality Indian batsman. Thats' why KKR spent so much money on Gambhir and Pathan, I think. :)

@ Mahmud ....If I'm a franchisee and I bid for Dilshan and I see that others are also bidding for him, I would certainly stop at some point without going far as I know if I don't get Dilshan I can go for some other foreign batsman as there are plenty of options available. But if I bid for Gambhir or Utthappa or some other QUALITY Indian batsman, I'll certainly try to pick him even @ higher price just because there are NOT many options available as far as good Indian batsmen are concerned and it is mandatory to have at least 7 Indian players in your playing XI. So it's obvious that every franchise wouldn't mind paying high for some Indian players as per requirement of their respective teams. Venu Gopal Rao, a loser, according to me, has been picked for handsome amt. of money just because his competition was with under-19 or uncapped Indian players. I hope, you get my point.

@ Mahmud...Dilshan's competition was NOT with Utthappa, it was with other overseas players. What Dilshan would do, the same would be done by Warner, Finch, Devilliers, Kallis, McCullum, Sangakkara, Mahela, Ross Taylor, Cameron White, Hussey, Greame Smith and the list goes on... whereas what Robin Utthappa would do, not other Indian batsmen (low quality?) would be able to do who were in the auction list other than Yuvraj, Gambhir, Rohit, Saurabh and Pathan. That's why he got so much money.