The six-million-dollar baby — Ravindra Jadeja

So how much is too much in the Indian Premier League? Well, going by what is being discussed in hushed tones in IPL circles, Chennai Super Kings shelled out as much as $6 million for Ravindra Jadeja — that is $4 million more than maximum purse for a player. Jadeja will still get only $2 mn, while the additional $4 million goes to BCCI.

Jadeja’s was the second name in the auction and Chennai swung into action, determined to enlist the Saurashtra player. But they faced strong resistance from Deccan Chargers which forced the bid to a tiebreak as both franchises bid $2 million. But the Hyderabad side’s challenge fizzled out in the secret bid that followed the tie-break. It is said that Deccan submitted a bid for Rs5 crore while Chennai’s bid was for Rs20 crore.

Only the Chennai and Hyderabad representatives, apart from IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla and COO Sundar Raman, saw the secret bids. However, soon after the auction, it became the talking point among the franchises.

With that, Jadeja becomes the costliest player in IPL auctions to date, commanding a price of $6 million or about Rs30 crore. Gautam Gambhir had gone for $2.4 mn in the open bidding.

The only other time a secret bid was made was in 2010 when Kieron Pollard and Shane Bond attracted secret bids. Pollard attracted a humongous bid but the amount is still not known.