77 out of the 79 cricketers that were up for sale were bought by the 8 IPL franchises on a cricket history defining day at the Hilton Towers in Mumbai for a whopping $42 million. Thats an average of over half a million dollars per cricketer!
Here are 7 points summarising what went down at today's Cricketer Auction.
1. Who didn't make it?
Mohammad Yousuf - pending court case due to ICL contract cancellation.
Ashwell Prince - no one was interested.
2. Who spent the most?
Bollywood King Shahrukh Khan (Kolkata) - $6,072,500 for 11 players.
India Cements (Chennai) - $5,925,000 for 11 players.
Deccan Chronicle (Hyderabad) - $5,885,000 for 11 players.
Point of Interest: The top 2 franchise bidders - Mukesh Ambani and Vijay Mallya who spent $111.9 million and $111.6 million for the mumbai and Bangalore franchises respectively spent less than $5 million each at the player's auction and were among the lowest 3 bidders today.
3. Who made it to the Millionaires Club?
Mahendra Singh Dhoni - $1.5 million by India Cements (Chennai)
Andrew Symonds - $1.35 million by Deccan Chronicle (Hyderabad)
These were the only 2 players who were bid for over a million. The others in the club are the ICON players:
Sachin Tendulkar - $1,121,250 by Mukesh Ambani's Reliance (Mumbai)
Saurav Ganguly - $1,092,500 by Shahrukh Khan (Kolkata)
Yuvraj Singh - $1,063,750 by Preity Zinta (Mohali)
Rahul Dravid - $1,035,000 by Vijay Mallya' UB Group (Bangalore)
4. Who secured the highest bids?
Sanath Jayasuriya - $975,000 by Mukesh Ambani (Mumbai)
Ishant Sharma - $950,000 by Shahrukh Khan (Kolkata)
Irfan Pathan - $925,000 by Priety Zinta (Mohali)
Jacques Kallis - $900,000 by Vijay Mallya (Bangalore)
Brett Lee - $900,000 by Priety Zinta (Mohali)
Point of Interest: Bollywood celebs are BIG spenders.
5. Which were the most overvalued deals?
$950,000 for Ishant Sharma - surely a talented boy but does he seriously command such a price after having played a handful of ODIs and Tests and no T20Is?
$900,000 for Jacques Kallis - undoubtedly one of the best test batsmen in the world, a decent ODI bat, but even his national team dropped him for the T20 world cup that was played in his home country. Is such a price justified?
$675,000 for Mohammad Kaif - Ignored by the national selectors for all forms of the game, untested at the T20 level, why were bidders so interested in him?
6. Which were the most undervalued bids?
$375,000 for Matthew Hayden - are you kidding me? Australia's tour of Pakistan has been given as a probable reason but then team mate Lee who would also be touring fetched $900K!
$400,000 for Ricky Ponting - deserves more doesn't he? Strange that the bidders were not more interested.
$150,000 for Umar Gul - the leading wicket taker of the T20 world cup definitelt deserved more.
If you look at it from the bidders' perspective, they have hit the Jackpot with these undervalued deals.
7. What were the other unexpected bids?
Shane Warne and Glen McGrath went for as low as $450,000 and $350,000 respectively.
David Hussey, Cameron White, and Yusuf Pathan, who collectively have international experience of a handful matches fetched bids of $675,000; $500,000; and $475,000 respectively. Looks like the bidders keep an eye on domestic cricket in other countries and their own. Well done.
Shahid Afridi bagged the highest bid ($675,000) for a Pakistani player ahead of Shoaib Malik, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Asif, Younis Khan, Umar Gul, and Kamran Akmal.
ly stopped moving. Since starting his first-class career in 1996-97 he has racked up at least 10 teams ranging from Lahore to Yorkshire via the Titans in South Africa. That he has never remained anywhere for very long suggests a cricketer who has failed to live up to his potential, but his first-class record is impressive with a fine average and imposing strike-rate. His one-day figures stand up to scrutiny as well. He has had stints with three English counties; Middlesex, Yorkshire and Hampshire, who he signed for in 2008.
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