India's Twenty20 stars draw big money

One of the most competitive rounds of bidding, according to Lalit Modi, ended up rewarding India’s Twenty20 heroes – Robin Uthappa, Rohit Sharma, and Gautam Gambhir – and also Mohammad Kaif, Suresh Raina, and Manoj Tiwary. David Hussey was the surprising pick too in the round of batsmen.

Uthappa went for the highest price in the seventh round of bidding: grossing $800,000 (base price: $200,000) from Mumbai. Sharma went to Hyderabad for a sum of $750,000 (base price: $150,000), and Gambhir to home team Delhi for $725,000 (base price: $200,000). Delhi dished out $675,000 for Manoj Tiwary, whose base price was $100,000.

Uttar Pradesh’s Kaif and Raina drew a big purse too, Kaif getting $675,000 (base price: $125,000) from Jaipur and Raina $650,000 (same base price as Kaif) from Chennai.

Kolkata bought Hussey for $625,000, his base price being $125,000. Other players traded during this round: VVS Laxman by Hyderabad for $375,000 (base price: $150,000), Wasim Jaffer by Bangalore for his base price of $150,000, and Chamara Silva by Hyderabad for his base price of $100,000.

This was also the round during which many players stayed unsold: none of Ramnaresh Sarwan, Simon Katich, Justin Langer, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ashwell Prince, and Loots Bosman inspired the buyers enough.