The 23-year-old, whose base price was $1,00,000, went to Chennai after the tie-breaker clause was invoked when two teams — CSK and Deccan Chargers — bid the maximum ($2 million) for the Saurashtra player.
All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was the biggest draw for the franchises with Chennai Super Kings buying him for a whopping Rs 9.72 crore but struggling veteran VVS Laxman found no takers in the players' auction for the fifth edition IPL here today.
The 23-year-old, whose base price was $ 100,000, went to Chennai after the tie-breaker clause was invoked when two teams -- CSK and Deccan Chargers -- bid the maximum ($ two million) for the Saurashtra player in the auction which was held just hours after Sahara announced its dramatic pullout from the cash-rich event.
Both the franchises were asked to bid a secret amount in the tie-breaker and it was Chennai which managed to outbid Deccan in the final round.
But the cricketer himself will be paid $ 950,000 as per the contract he had signed with the now-disbanded Kochi Tuskers Kerala last year and even the secret amount that was bid on him by Chennai would go into the BCCI coffers.
Laxman, in contrast, expectedly remained unsold after a string of poor performances on the tours of England and Australia.
Laxman started his IPL stint as Deccan Chargers captain in 2008 but at 37 right now, age and reputation of being a Test specialist could also have been factors for the franchises' snub.
Interestingly, only 25 of 146 players were bid for in the four-hour long auction, interspersed with a press briefing on Pune Warriors stunning decision to pull out of the IPL.
"Around 11 million was spent by franchisees during the auction. It was fair and transparent. I don't think any of the franchisees have complained. The trading window will reopen on Monday," said IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla.
Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals bought five players each, while Kings XI Punjab, Kolkata Knight Riders and Deccan Chargers bid for three players each. Delhi Daredevils and Royal Challengers Bangalore settled for two players while CSK got the biggest catch of the auction.
After a gap of three years, one Pakistan player found favour with the franchisees with Kings XI Punjab bidding for all-rounder Azhar Mahmood, who was listed as an England player.
Former Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene, incidentally the KTK captain last season, was also a big draw going to Delhi Daredevils for $ 1.4 million (approx Rs 6.8 crore).
Jayawardene will, however, get $ 1.5 million as per his contract last year.
Some surprise beneficiaries at the auction were West Indian spinner Sunil Narine, who was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders for $ 700,000 (Rs 3.40 crore) and Indian paceman Vinay Kumar, taken by Royal Challengers Bangalore for $ one million (Rs 4.86 crore). Narine had a modest base price of $ 50,000.
A total of 146 players went under the hammer with a purse of $ 16.94 million between the eight teams after Pune Warriors did not turn up following Sahara's decision to give up on the franchise's ownership.
Each team had a maximum cap of $ two million, which Chennai exhausted by spending on Jadeja.
Other big gainers at the auction were New Zealand wicketkeeper-batsman Brendon McCullum was bought for $ 900,000 by Kolkata Knight Riders. McCullum's base price was $ 400,000.
Indian stumper Parthiv Patel went for $ 650,000 to Deccan Chargers, which was quite high from his base price of $ 200,000.
Among others who went unsold in the auction were England's James Anderson, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara and Matt Prior, West Indies' Ramnaresh Sarwan, Adrian Barath and Darren Bravo and South Africa's Mark Boucher.
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