Gautam Gambhir emerged as top dog, with Kolkata Knight Riders handing him a cool $2.4 million (Rs11 crore).
Who wants to be a millionaire? Cricketers, for sure. As many as 15 of them attracted bids of a million dollars or more here on Saturday afternoon.
At the player auction for the Indian Premier League, the franchise owners splurged on a no-holds-barred bidding that saw four players reach the $2m mark for the first time.
Over $50 million was spent on 72 players on Day I of the auction, to be continued on Sunday.
Gautam Gambhir emerged the top dog, with Kolkata handing him a cool $2.4 million (Rs 11 crore). But it was Robin Uthappa who hit the jackpot, walking away with $2.1 million to the shock of many, including Vijay Mallya, who lost out to new entrants Pune Warriors. Team Kochi too, brushing aside all their problems, spent lavishly at the auction.
Along more expected lines, Yusuf Pathan earned $ 2.1 million, with Shah Rukh Khan’s KKR getting the prize catch.
Between them, the Pathan brothers raked in $4 million on the day, with Yusuf’s brother Irfan going for a staggering $1.9 million to Delhi Daredevils.
For someone who has not played a game in over three months, that is a huge windfall, considering that icons like Sourav Ganguly and Brian Lara were not touched. Even Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman were in danger of being left unsold, but young Rohit Sharma went for $2 million to Mumbai Indians.
Dravid, however, managed to remain Royal, although the Royal Challengers spurned him. Rajasthan Royals bagged Dravid for $500,000, a price what Royals CEO Sean Morris said was a steal.
“We’re excited to have Rahul,” said Morris, whose team, however, was deprived of full price cap of $ 9 million. It was allowed to spend only $7 million, because of a court order to hold $2 million in reserve.
It was obvious that the team owners were not touching the ageing stars but Adam Gilchrist, about to be 40, bucked the trend and landed a bid worth $900,000 from Punjab. Muttiah Muralitharan, only one year younger to Gilchrist, got a better deal. He was roped in by Kochi for $1.1 million.
“There is nothing embarrassing about Ganguly remaining unsold. That is the dynamics of the auction. Everyone was aware of this,” said Chirayu Amin, chairman of the IPL committee.
Like Ganguly, 15 other players, including Chris Gayle, his teammate at KKR, remained unsold. They might be put up for rebids on Sunday. Other big winners of the day were Saurabh Tiwary ($1.6 m for RCB), South African heroes Dale Steyn ($1.2 m for DC), Jacques Kallis ($1.1m for KKR) and AB de Villiers ($ 1.1m for RCB).
Like the Pathans of Baroda, the Hussey brothers from Australia too made a killing but the share was disproportionate. While young David was taken by Punjab for $1.4m, elder brother Mike stayed with Chennai for $425,000. The auction resumes on Sunday with about 250 more players to come under the hammer.
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