Gautam Gambhir's name was the first off the blocks and as a long day wound to a close at the ITC Royal Gardenia Hotel here on Saturday, the Indian opener emerged on top of the lot as the Indian Premier League players' auction forced team owners to test their purses and thinking caps in equal measure.
Gambhir bagged $2.4 million from Kolkata Knight Riders, which in turn proved to be the highest bid for the day besides being the most expensive in the brief history of the league, tripping past the previous highs of Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen (both at $1.55 million) in 2009 and M.S. Dhoni ($1.5 million) in 2008.
The start was brisk as auctioneer Richard Madley goaded the owners with his “do I see a bid?” and “ah we are in the market” comments.
Keen tussle
Gambhir evoked a tussle between Mumbai Indians and Pune before Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kochi and Knight Riders stepped in and added spice to the proceedings. Eventually Knight Riders prevailed and snapped up the former Delhi Daredevils captain.
The southpaw's achievement glimmered bright through the day while two men, who also carry out their trade with the bat and are certainties in any all-time limited-over squads, remained on the unsold list in an indication that the sands of time wait for none.
Stranded
Brian Lara and Sourav Ganguly were stranded on their base price of $400,000 and there were no takers for the past masters.
And as owners fiddled with their financial spreadsheets and also factored in the international cricket calendar, England's leading bowlers James Anderson and Graeme Swann besides West Indies's Chris Gayle with his ability to scatter bowlers all over the park, remained unsold.
Through the day Madley coaxed and cajoled owners to up their prices as 72 players were auctioned while 16 found no buyers.
Among the rest, hard-hitting batsmen Yusuf Pathan and Robin Uthappa bagged $2.1 million from Knight Riders and Pune respectively. Rohit Sharma, high on talent and low on returns, gained $2 million from Mumbai Indians and in some welcome news that will bring cheer to the Pathan home at Vadodara, Irfan was pocketed for $1.9 million by Delhi Daredevils.
Pune takes Yuvraj
Yuvraj Singh too continued his blue-chip status in the Twenty20 format and his stature forced Pune Warriors to part with $1.8 million.
In a millionaire club skewed in favour of powerful batsmen, the world's premier fast bowler Dale Steyn offered some change while Deccan Chargers proffered $1.2 million to strengthen their attack. Legendary Muttiah Muralitharan whipped up a keen contest between Kochi and Chennai Super Kings before the Kerala outfit out-bid at $1.1 million.
For Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab, involved in legal battles and tense nerves, it was often a tale of frenetic bidding followed by resigned shoulders, though the two managements gained a legend each.
Royals snapped up Rahul Dravid and Kings XI inked in Adam Gilchrist. Meanwhile, new entrants Kochi and Pune, with a full purse of $9 million, often popped up late in the bids to queer the pitch.
The bidding for the remaining players will be held here on Sunday.
Players auctioned on Saturday, team-wise (figures in dollars):
Chennai Super Kings: Michael Hussey, 425,000; Wriddhiman Saha, 100,000; Dwayne Bravo, 200,000; Doug Bollinger, 700,000; R. Ashwin, 850,000; S. Badrinath, 800,000.
Deccan Chargers: Cameron White, 1.1 million; Kevin Pietersen, 650,000; Kumar Sangakkara, 700,000; J.P. Duminy, 300,000; Shikhar Dhawan, 300,000; Ishant Sharma, 450,000; Dale Steyn, 1.2 million; Pragyan Ojha, 500,000; Amit Mishra, 300,000.
Delhi Daredevils: Irfan Pathan, 1.9 million; David Warner, 750,000; Naman Ojha, 270,000; James Hopes, 350,000; Morne Morkel, 475,000; Aaron Finch, 300,000.
King's XI Punjab: Adam Gilchrist, 900,000; Shaun Marsh, 400,000; David Hussey, 1.4 million; Dinesh Karthik, 900,000; Stuart Broad, 400,000; Abhishek Nayar, 800,000; Praveen Kumar, 800,000; Ryan Harris, 325,000; Piyush Chawla, 900,000.
Kochi: Mahela Jayawardene, 1.5 million; V.V.S. Laxman, 400,000; Brendon McCullum, 475,000; S. Sreesanth, 900,000; R.P. Singh, 500,000; Parthiv Patel, 290,000; Ravindra Jadeja, 950,000; Steven Smith, 200,000; Muttiah Muralitharan, 1.1 million; Ramesh Powar, 180,000; Brad Hodge, 425,000.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Gautam Gambhir, $2.4 million; Yusuf Pathan, 2.1 million; Jacques Kallis, 1.1 million; Brad Haddin, 325,000; Shakib Al Hasan, 425,000; Brett Lee, 400,000; Eoin Morgan, 350,000; Manoj Tiwary, 475,000.
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma, 2 million; Andrew Symonds, 850,000; David Jacobs, 190,000; James Franklin, 100,000.
Pune Warriors: Robin Uthappa, 2.1 million; Yuvraj Singh, 1.8 million; Graeme Smith, 500,000; Tim Paine, 270,000; Angelo Mathews, 950,000; Ashish Nehra, 850,000; Nathan McCullum, 100,000; Callum Fergusson, 300,000.
Rajasthan Royals: Ross Taylor, 1 million; Rahul Dravid, 500,000; Johan Botha, 950,000; Paul Collingwood, 250,000.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: A.B. de Villiers, 1.1 million; Dilshan Tillakaratne, 650,000; Zaheer Khan, 900,000; Daniel Vettori, 550,000; Saurabh Tiwary, 1.6 million; Dirk Nannes, 650,000; Cheteshwar Pujara, 700,000.
Unsold players (inclusive of base price): Sourav Ganguly, 400,000; Brian Lara, 400,000; Chris Gayle, 400,000; Luke Wright, 400,000; James Anderson, 400,000; Graeme Swann, 400,000; Herschelle Gibbs, 200,000; Matt Prior, 200,000; Mark Boucher, 200,000; Murali Kartik, 200,000; Ajantha Mendis, 200,000; Jesse Ryder, 100,000; Dilharo Fernando, 100,000; Chamara Kapugedera, 100,000; Tamim Iqbal, 100,000; Graham Manou, 50,000.
