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Pietersen and Flintoff sell for $1.55 million each
Kevin Pietersen started at $1.35 million, his base price, and was bid for by Bangalore Royal Challengers
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
Kevin Pietersen started at $1.35 million, his base price, and was bid for by Bangalore Royal Challengers. There was a delay before Rajasthan raised the bid. Bangalore, however, raised the bid again and bought Pietersen at a cost of $1.55 million, the same price as Andrew Flintoff. Pietersen and Flintoff are the most expensive players in the league.
Full postTyron Henderson goes to Rajasthan for $650,000
Tyron Henderson's bidding started at $100,000 and the interested buyers were Deccan and Rajasthan
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
Tyron Henderson's bidding started at $100,000 and the interested buyers were Deccan and Rajasthan. Mumbai eventually raised the bid to $200,000. Deccan bid $300,000 but Rajasthan went up to $325,000 after which Deccan raised it further to $350,000. Rajasthan continued to compete, forcing Deccan to raise their bid to $400,000. Rajasthan raised it to $425,000 but Deccan came back with a bid of $450,000. Not to be outdone, Rajasthan went up to $475,000 but Deccan would not be deterred, raising it to $500,000. The bids continued to escalate and Deccan just when Deccan seemed to have secured Henderson for $600,000, Rajasthan went up to $650,000. Deccan did not raise their bid and Tyron Henderson went to Rajasthan.
Henderson, a medium-pacer, is the leading Twenty20 wicket-taker, with 74 scalps from 62 games. A very useful hard-hitting batsmen too, he was utilised to good effect by Middlesex in their winning campaign in last year's Twenty20 Cup in England.
Australian opener Phil Jaques, and South African batsmen Ashwell Prince remained unsold. Andre Nel also had no buyers.
Full postCaptaincy options open - Mallya
Vijay Mallya, the owner of Bangalore Royal Challengers, has kept the captaincy options open
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
Vijay Mallya, the owner of Bangalore Royal Challengers, has kept the captaincy options open. Minutes after picking up Kevin Pietersen at US$1.55 million, Mallya said he was happy with the price he got him at. "The captaincy options are open. The team management will take a decision on it." The Royal Challengers, who finished second last the previous year, were led by Rahul Dravid. However, Pietersen will be available only for three weeks.
"He's a superb addition to our team and I was very keen to purchase him," Mallya said. "I got him for a price I was willing to pay. We needed to strengthen our batting. I would like him to play for all six weeks (of the league), if not this year then next year.
"We looked at the balance of the team after exchanging Zaheer Khan with Robin Uthappa. We have South Africans, Australians and team balance was important. I was keen to buy Kevin to give it the balance. We are delighted to buy him."
Full postPlayer auction to begin at 10.45 am
The player auction for the second season of the IPL will begin at 10.45 am in Goa
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
The player auction for the second season of the IPL will begin at 10.45 am in Goa. The franchise representatives are just making their way to the venue – John Buchanan just passed by carrying a backpack – and the media are out in force, waiting for the proceedings to start. There are a massive number of OB vans parked down the hill, waiting for the live feed, and large screens have been set up in the media enclosure.
No money will be carried forward if a franchise doesn’t spend its budget of $2 million but that doesn’t mean the teams are queuing up to splurge. “It doesn’t mean we are necessarily going to spend all our money,” a team official told Cricinfo. “We don’t intend to pay over the odds for any player. At the same time, I’m sure every franchise will be busting a gut to get the players they really need because, at the end of the day, we have cities and fans to answer to.”
Word on the grapevine is that JP Duminy, who had such a sensational tour of Australia, is likely to join the likes of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Andrew Symonds and Kevin Pietersen in the million-dollar club.
Full postFlintoff becomes IPL's most expensive player
Bidding for England's star allrounder Andrew Flintoff started at $950,000
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
Bidding for England's star allrounder Andrew Flintoff started at $950,000. Rajasthan Royals entered the bidding late for Flintoff, raising the bid to $1.5 million, but Chennai's bid of $ 1.55 million clinched Flintoff. Flintoff is now the most expensive player in the IPL.
Full postMumbai bag Duminy for $950,000
Mumbai Indians bought South African batsman JP Duminy for $950,000
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
Mumbai Indians bought South African batsman JP Duminy for $950,000. Duminy's base price was set at $300,000. There was intense bidding for Duminy between Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders.
Defending champions Rajasthan Royals have made the first buy in this year's auction, purchasing Australian fast bowler Shaun Tait for $US375,000.
Full postUnsold players
All the rounds of bidding are over, but we are left with a few unsold players
Sidharth Monga
25-Feb-2013
All the rounds of bidding are over, but we are left with a few unsold players. The modalities of the re-bidding for them are being decided currently. As per the rules released yesterday teams will be allowed to bid below the base price.
The list of unsold players: Glenn McGrath, Mohammad Yousuf, Tatenda Taibu, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Simon Katich, Justin Langer, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ashwell Prince, Loots Bosman, and Mike Hussey
Full postBuchanan for Kolkata
News is filtering in that John Buchanan has confirmed he will coach the Kolkata team in the IPL
Sidharth Monga
25-Feb-2013
News is filtering in that John Buchanan has confirmed he will coach the Kolkata team in the IPL. Buchanan said one of his main roles as franchise coach would be to blend different cultures into a team, AAP reported.
"I don't ever see that as a problem, once players merge together as a side you are actually trying to achieve a result," Buchanan said. "What will be interesting is that you will have Australian players, Indian players, New Zealand players, Sri Lankan players, Pakistani players ... and they could all end up in the one franchise.
"That will make for an interesting cultural exchange no doubt ... and that will be one of the exciting parts, bringing together cultural differences in a very short period of time."
Full postDelhi get McGrath, Chennai buy Hussey
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan
25-Feb-2013
Glenn McGrath and Michael Hussey have been bought for US$350,000 by Delhi and Chennai respectively. McGrath went at his base price while Hussey was bought for US$100,000 more.
All the rest were sold at their base prices. Mohali bought both Simon Katich (US$200,000) and Ramnaresh Sarwan (US$225,000). Shivnarine Chanderpaul was bought by Bangalore for US$200,000, Loots Bosman went to Mumbai for US$175,000 and Justin Langer to Jaipur for US$200,000.
Full postThe most sought after
So who were the players that the franchises bid fiercely for
Sidharth Monga
25-Feb-2013
So who were the players that the franchises bid fiercely for? Mahendra Dhoni and Andrew Symonds, obviously, as their signing amounts of US$1.5m and US$1.35m respectively suggest. Lalit Modi said there was an intense bidding for the two. "Dhoni was bid across the table by every team, his went to every team. Symonds was bid pretty much all across too."
Modi also said he could not make out what was going through the minds of the bidders, and what their strategy was. "It all depends. Everybody is trying to build a team strategically. There are players whose price has gone up from a base price of US$100,000 to about US$475,000-US$500,000.
"Some players have gone surprisingly low, some have gone surprisingly very very high. The rationale is not for me to judge, it's for the team owners to judge."
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