Aussie Stars Flood the IPL

Shaun Marsh, son of the Aussie opener Goeff Marsh, has just been signed up by Priety Zinta's Mohali franchise for the IPL.

Its been quite a week for the young Aussie - after being named in the ODI squad for the Windies tour, earlier today he received his first contract from Cricket Australia.

Whats interesting is that Shaun Marsh joins Luke Pomersbach in the Mohali team - the 2 Western Australians were suspended earlier this season for a late night drinking binge by WA. One can expect some late nights then in and around Punjab once the IPL kicks off.

Marsh and Pomersbach will have to be wary though as Mohali is coached by Western Australia coach Tom Moody who has Trevor Penney as his assistant, also his assistant at WA.

Dominic Thornely, another successful Australian domestic cricketer, was also lapped up today by the Mumbai Indians, who had earlier signed on the Western Australian wicket keeper Luke Ronchi.

Glenn McGrath is one of the first international cricketers to arrive in India for the IPL and has already started training with the Delhi Daredevils. Delhi's coach, the Victorian Greg Shipperd, has also arrived in India and held the team's first training session yesterday.

Aussies have definitely taken the IPL by storm.

• Shane Warne is the only non-Indian captain the IPL has.
  
• 4 of the 8 IPL coaches are Australian - John Buchanan, Tom Moody, Greg Shipperd, and Shane Warne.
  
• Australia is the only country from where the largest pool of domestic cricketers have signed on with the IPL - those mentioned above along with the Victorians David Hussey and Cameron White. There are a couple of others that I'm forgetting right now.

Despite such an Aussie dominance in the IPL, Uncle J Rod refuses to believe that it will be a success. Forget Aussie dominance Uncle J, they've got Victorians here as well.


The IPL kicks off in 9 days.

The teams are ready; they've all got their names, their captains, their coaches, their players, their multi colored uniforms; the players have started arriving, training sessions have started, the schedule is in place, and arragements for the opening ceremony are being finalised !!

It sure will be quite an extravaganza !!!

Hopes Tops the List in Episode II of the IPL Player Auction

Part II of the IPL Player Auction was held today. I reported yesterday that Misbah and James Hopes were likely to recieve the highest bids in todays Auction and they in fact did. Well kind of.

Hopes was the most expensive player auctioned today as he went to Preity Zinta's Mohali for $300,000.

Misbah was picked up by Vijay Mallya's Bangalore for $125,000. I thought he would have gone for much more but I guess not many were interested in him, which is surprising. Misbah joins Darvid, Kallis, and Chanderpaul in the Royal Challenger's middle order.

A number of other international players, who were not listed in the 18 initially announced to be auctioned, were sold today as well. This had something to do with a list of names provided by the franchises to the BCCI.

The first English player was signed up with the IPL today - Dmitri Mascarenhas was picked up by Jaipur for $100,000 after an agreement was signed between Jaipur and Hampshire, who have released Mascarenhas for the initial part of the county season. Hampshire will reportedly be compensated for the time Mascarenhas is not available to them.

This just goes to show how the counties and boards are willing to oblige to the BCCI for the IPL, actions that are totally opposite to the ones bing shown for the ICL. Its quite obvious that Shane Warne, captain of Jaipur and Hampshire, would have played a role in the negotiations.

The other players auctioned today include:

Jaipur: Shane Watson ($125,000), Sohail Tanvir ($100,000), Morne Morkel ($60,000), and U19 players Taruwar Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja.

Kolkata: Salman Butt ($100,000), Mohammad Hafeez ($100,000) and U19 players Iqbal Abdullah and Siddarth Kaul.

Mohali: Luke Pomersbach ($50,000), Kyle Mills ($150,000), and U19 players Ajitesh Argal and Tanmay Srivastava.

Delhi: Brett Greeves ($50,000) and U19 Pradeep Sangwan (Soulberry, your wish of Sangwan in the same team as Asif and Mcgrath has been granted).

(Know anything about Greeves Uncle J?)

Bangalore: Ross Taylor ($100,000), Abdur Razzak ($50,000), and U19 Shreevats Goswami.

Mumbai: Ashwell Prince ($175,000), and U19 players Manish Pandey and Saurabh Tiwary.

Chennai: U19 players Napoleon Einstein, Abhinav Mukund, Viraj Kadbe.

Why did Mumbai pay $175,000 for Ashwell Prince when no one was interested in him the first time round?

Many players still remain unsold, but reports indicate that they will be paid their base prices despite not playing for any team.

Earning money for no work? I am definitely in the wrong job.

The BID-O-METER - Who were the Smartest Bidders?

The cricket world came to a standstill yesterday as all those who mattered gathered around the Hilton Towers in Mumbai and spent millions on cricketers for their IPL franchises. The media frenzy and crowd pull to the cricketers auction was such that other cricket happenings around the world went by unnoticed.

England and New Zealand played out a 340 run tied ODI match, which was probably the most interesting ODI in recent times, the U-19 world cup marched on with its 4th day of matches, a Duleep Trophy Final was being played at the Wankhede, and the ICC announced a shorter 2011 World Cup.

Despite all this, all eyes were on the auction. So how did the bidders fare? Who were the smart ones? Who got it wrong? My Bidometer answers all your questions.

Team Jaipur
Franchisee: Emerging Media
They picked an able leader in Shane Warne at a good bargain along with a potentially dangerous opening combination in Smith and Langer. The middle order looks good too with Younis Khan and Kaif, however the two may not be suited to the T20 game. In Kamran Akmal they have a valuable late order batsman ideal or the T20 game, however their bowling picks look thin - apart from Shane Warne there is Munaf Patel whose history of breaking down makes him a risky choice. They dished out over a million for Yusuf Pathan and Kaif, which is on the high side in my opinion. Apart from Warne, there isn't much star value in the team either, which is essential to oull the crowd in.
Bidometer: 3/10

Chennai Super Kings
Franchisee: India Cements
They made sure that they pick the T20 world cup winning captain in Dhoni, who along with being a sound leader in the shorter versions of the game, also adds the star value required to pull a crowd and add to the brand equity of India Cements. They also got it right with the openers in Hayden and Fleming and a good looking middle order with MEK Hussey and Raina. Add to that hard hitting allrounders Oram and Albie Morkel followed by Dhoni and the Super Kings' batting line up looks very strong. On the bowling front Ntini and Murali are potentially threatening; and they've also got India's T20 WC star Joginder Sharma to bowl the last overs of the innings. They got a very good deal for Hayden and Hussey but may have over paid for Oram and Morkel - but if those sixes start flowing in the last few overs with these 2 in the middle, $1.3 million for both of them may prove to be worth it.
Bidometer: 7/10

Team Mumbai
Franchisee: Reliance India Limited
Mukesh Ambani and his men were blessed with Sachin as their Icon and they ensured that they get te best opening partner for him - Sanath Jayasuriya. This is a dream opening combination for any team and I reckon the best opening pair that will walk out once the IPL kicks off. Both of them bring ample star appeal to the team as well. With Uthappa in the mix they've got a solid top order but the middle order is missing. As is the wicket keeper. Mumbai missed a trick there but they ended the bidding war on a good note by stocking up their bowling with Pollock, Malinga, Fernando, and Harbhajan. Thats a very varied attack and has the potential to trouble all the oppositions batsmen - probably one of the best bowling attacks picked up at the auction. I think they dished out way too much for Bhajji and Uthappa but it got it right with the other bids.
Bidometer: 6/10

Bangalore Royal Challengers
Franchisee: UB Group
Vijay Mallya had Rahul Dravid by his side during the auction but even he could not help Bangalore pick suitable men for the T20 game. Dravid, Kallis, Chanderpaul, and Wasim Jaffer look more like a test batting line up than one for a T20 match. Moreover, they spent as much as $900,000 for Kallis, who was dropped by his national team for the T20 World Cup played in his own backyard. On the bowling front however, with Steyn, Bracken, and Zaheer they probably picked up the best pace battery out of all franchisees and all at very good prices. They got a very good deal for the best keeper in the world, Boucher, and they gambled half a million on Cameron White. With the 3 pacers, White, and Kumble; Dravid has managed a varied and dangerous attack but the batting is on the weak side and apart from home boy Dravid, Bangalore haven't really managed any crowd pullers.
Bidometer: 5/10

Team Hyderabad
Franchisee: Deccan Chronicle
VVS Laxman withdrew his Icon status so that his team could play with a larger budget. That worked very well for they picked up the most apt batsmen for the T20 game - in Gilchrist, Symonds, Afridi, and Gibbs they've got a hard hitting batting line up that will send shivers down the spines of bowlers, they've got multi dimensional cricketers, and they've got the stars that can fill the stadiums. Add Laxman, Styris, Chamara Silva and Rohit Sharma to that batting line up and you've got the strongest one out of the eight. The bowling picks area a bit weak though with all left armers in RP, Vaas, and Zoysa. They made sure they pay high for the stars, which makes sense but $875K for RP is probably too high.
Bidometer: 8/10

Team Mohali
Franchisee: Preity Zinta led Consortium
They started off with probably the best T20 batsmen in Yuvraj as their Icon and made sure they got one of the best middle orders with Mahela and King Sanga who will get to work with their World Cup coach Tom Moody, along woth Katich and Sarwan who were picked up at good bargains. But they didn't pick any openers. Priety also managed to grab a lethal new ball attack in Lee, Pathan, and Sreesanth who will be well supported with spinner Powar and Chawla - plus all 5 bowlers have the ability with the bat as well. They've got the crowd pullers in Yuvi, Lee, and Pathan but the openers slot is a major issue.
Bidometer: 7/10

Team Kolkata
Franchisee: Shahrukh Khan's Red Chillies Entertainment
Being the King of entertainment Shahrukh Khan made sure he fills his side with entertainers in Shoaib Akhtar, Ponting, and Gayle - all more than able cricketers. Led by Ganguly, the prince of Kolkata and SRK's managed the players who can fill up the 100,000 plus seats at the Eden Gardens. Shoaib sharing the new ball with Ishant Sharma followed by Umar Gul's toe busting yorkers looks like a solid pace attack on paper which can be ably supported by the spin of Gayle and Murali Karthik. They also gambled by paying a pricey $675K for arguably Australia's best T20 batsman in David Hussey. Add McCullum as the keeper to the mix and Kolkata looks like a well balanced side that could be one of the favorites as well as one of th most entertaining side of the competition. SRK bagged the best bargain in the auction with Ponting, Akhtar, and Gul but may have overpaid for Ishant.
Bidometer: 9/10

Delhi Daredevils
Franchisee: GMR Holdings
They didn't pay over a million, made sure their Icon doesn't go over a million, and made sure they got local stars able to turn the game on smartly using the stipulation that allows only 4 international stars in the final XI. Sehwag, Gambhir, Tiwari, and Dinesh Karthik makes for a solid batting line up and all able to take the field and attract the local crowd. Add to that Shoaib Malik , Dilshan and AB De Villiers and the batting line up seems more than decent. Glen McGrath and the Pakistani version Mohammad Asif make for a dream new ball attack and only had they been aggressive on home by Ishant Sharma it would have been perfect. Mahroof and Vettori provide the support to the bowling and Dilshan, Malik, and Sehwag add variety to the spin department. They didn't over pay for anyone and managed smart deals for all their players.
Bidometer: 9/10

Thats how all the bidders fared in my opinion. How smart they all were will be proved once the competition gets underway and how the teams manage their stars in an XI that allows only 4 non-indian players. Who do you think were the smart bidders? Who do you think got it wrong? Let me have your views.

Ishant Sharma pushes Ganguly over a MILLION...

The IPL got their 6th Millionnaire in Saurav Ganguly who joins Dhoni, Symonds, Sachin, Dravid, and Yuvraj in the elite club. Ganguly achieved the status owing to Kolkata's aggressive bid for India's latest bowling senation Ishant Sharma.

Shahrukh Khan bid aggressively for Ishant Sharma closing his bid at a whopping $950,000! Thats the highest than any Indian fast bowler has got thus far. Irfan Pathan is a 2nd close who bagged a $925,000 deal from Priety Zinta's Mohali. Ponting would not have to worry about facing Ishant now as both of them will turn out for the Kolkata team. Ishant sharing the new ball with Shoaib Akhtar - the could be hell for the opposition batsmen and a treat. RP Singh was the other most valuable Indian pacer who was bagged by Hyderabad for $875,000.

The auction has proved the most beneficial for Indian players as almost all of them have gotten deals in excess of half a million dollars. Gambhir was picked up by his home team Delhi for $725,000 while Mumbai picked up Uthappa for $800,000. Delhi also won the bid for Manoj Tiwari for a high $675,000 while Rohit Sharma ($750,000), Suresha Raina ($650,000), and Mohammad Kaif ($675,000) all got valuable deals from Hyderabad, Chennai, and Jaipur respectively.

In my view the biggest surprise of the day was David Hussey being picked up for $657,000 by Kolkata. Uncle J has been running a petition for David Hussey's inclusion in the Aussie ODI side and his case has been made stronger due to the struggling Aussie batsmen in the CB series and his most recent 113 of 64 balls, the 2nd fastest century in Australian domestic cricket. Hussey junior's bid was more surprising because his elder brother Micheal Hussey, who is a permanent member of the Aussie side, did not attract any bids.

In the most recent round of bidding the franchisees concentrated on tanking up their bowling force with Jaipur picking up Munaf Patel ($275,000), Mumbai bagging the Lankan pair of Lasith Malinga ($350,000) and Dilhara Fernando ($150,000), Bangalore hitting the jackpot with Dale Steyn ($325,000) and Nathan Bracken ($325,000), Hyderabad bidding succesfully for RP Singh and the Sri Lankan pair of Chaminda Vaas ($200,000) and Nuwan Zoysa ($110,000), Mohali settling for the spinning combo of Ramesh Power ($170,000) and Piyush Chawla ($400,000), and Kolkata smartly bagging Ishant Sharma, Murali Karthik ($425,000), and Umar Gul ($150,000).

Stay tuned for the final update.

Dhoni and Sachin go for over a MILLION & Shahrukh Khan and Saurav Ganguly bag Shoaib Akhtar !!!

The day that defines the future of cricket has begun and the 8 IPL franchisees mean business. History is being created right in front of our eyes at the Hilton Towers in Mumbai. The men behind the 8 franchisees along with Rahul Dravid, Saurav Ganguly and other cricket advisors and consultants got together this morning to bid for their players.

India Cements, owners of the Chennai franchise dished out $1.5 million for Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni! Thats is $1.5 million for Dhoni's services for 3 years, i.e. approximately 150 days of cricket implying a daily wage of $10,000. How much does Bill Gates earn?

India Cements have also bought Muttiah Muralitharan for $600,000 thus spending $2.1 million or 40% of their maximum budget on 2 key players. Who are the brains behind these numbers?

Shahrukh Khan and his Kolkata captain Saurav Ganguly decided on Shoaib Akhtar for $425,000. They surely don't think he's a bad influence on the dressing room. Maybe SRK will cast Shoaib in his next movie.

Adam Gilchrist went to Hyderabad for a whopping $700,000 - no matter how big that amount is, its still less than half that was spent on Dhoni. Justified?

Mukesh Ambani's men from Mumbai dished out large sums of $975,000 and $850,000 respectively for Sanath Jayasuriya and Harbhajhan Singh! This means that Sachin Tendulkar, Mumbai's Icon, will earn atleast $1.1 million and will join Dhoni as the 2nd player to be valued at over a million dollars! Who is doing these valuations?

Preity Zinta's Mohali have also emptied their coffers by over a million spending $700,000 for Kumar Sangakkara and $475,000 for Mahela Jayawardene - The VC is valued more than the skipper! Mohali's Icon and captain, Yuvraj Singh, is set to earn atleast $805,000!!

Jaipur bagged Shane Warned for $450,000 and Bangalore spent half a million on India's test skipper Anil Kumble.

Over $8 million have been spent by the 8 franchisees collectively in the morning bidding session. There's more to come after lunch. Stay tuned for updates.