Is there no room in the IPL anymore for older, experienced players?

The Indian Premier League Season 4 auction held in Bangalore has seen a dramatic shift in favour of younger talent, with Indian players being the flavour of the season and grabbing the top seven slots.

While Gautam Gambhir was bought for a staggering Rs11.04 crore by the Knight Riders, Rohit Sharma's price was fixed at Rs9.2 crore by Mumbai Indians, Robin Uthappa's at Rs9.66 crore by Pune Warriors, Yuvraj Singh's at Rs8.16 crore by Sahara Pune Warriors and Zaheer Khan's at Rs4.1 crore by Royal Challengers Bangalore. Even relative newcomer Saurabh Tiwary, who has played little international cricket, got picked for a whopping Rs7.36 crore by RCB.

In sharp contrast, VVS Laxman was bought by Team Kochi for just Rs1.9 crore and Rahul Dravid by Rajasthan Royals for about Rs2.3 crore. Worse, veterans like Sourav Ganguly, Brian Lara, Sanath Jayasuriya and Mark Boucher found no takers.

Is this the end of the road for old warhorses in the Indian Premier League and, indeed, in the T20 format? Are players like Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne just the exceptions that prove the rule?