After being unsold twice on Sunday, the India discard finally managed to find himself a place in the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) squad after the third round of auction, which featured only him!
Mohammad Kaif should thank his stars.
After being unsold twice on Sunday, the India discard finally managed to find himself a place in the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) squad after the third round of auction, which featured, err, only him!
Kaif’s name first came up on Sunday, but he found no takers. Later, he also featured in the list of 28 unsold players who were put for ‘re-auction’. The Uttar Pradesh batsman was again unlucky.
A little later, former Indian player Deep Dasgupta, who is part of the Pune Warriors think-tank, asked IPL COO Sunder Raman whether his side could bid for a player who was unsold in the ‘re-auction’. The other franchisees did not object and Raman gave Pune the go-ahead.
As auctioneer Richard Madley took charge again, Pune immediately bid for Kaif for his base price of $100,000. Just when it seemed Kaif was heading to the Sahara-owned outfit, Gayatri Reddy of Deccan Chargers decided to enter the fray, inviting roars of laughter. After a brief pause, Pune increased their bid to $120,000. DC then backed out and Kaif, it seemed, was on his way to Pune. Again!
Vijay Mallya then restarted the drama, offering to buy Kaif for $130,000. Pune decided they had had enough. Kaif went to Bangalore.
In all, 13 players including Kaif, were sold from the list of 28 players who came up for the ‘re-auction’. Surprisingly, none of the big names like Sourav Ganguly, Brian Lara or Chris Gayle found takers.
For the record, this list of 28 was prepared after the franchisees submitted an ‘expression of interest’ in favour of certain unsold players after the regular auction was over around 4.30 pm.
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