Jadeja goes to Chennai, Vinay in RCB

Delhi get Jayawardene; Laxman, English cricketers go unsold

On a day when Sahara Group dealt double blow -- by pulling out their team Pune Warriors and snapping the sponsorship of the Indian cricket team -- Ravindra Jadeja breaking the $2 million mark during IPL auction V remained an afterthought here on Saturday.

The Saurashtra player, who was bagged by the Chennai Super Kings via tie-breaker after the bid touched the maximum purse of $2m, found himself many takers but none so vigorous than the eventual winners and Deccan Chargers. The two southren teams were locked in a keen battle and it was the Super Kings who prevailed in the end after quoting the highest undisclosed amount to break the deadlock.

There was, however, an uneasy calm before the claim for Jadeja gathered brisk pace. Kings XI Punjab made the first move, gingerly, before CSK joined the race. Royal Challengers Bangalore too joined in, increasing the stake to $850,000 when Chargers decided to up the ante. 

After Chennai exahusted all their purse, the rest of the auction was reduced to a seven-team affair which saw — as has been the feature of IPL auctions — some ‘unknowns’ go for hefty sums while a few reputed names remained unsold.

VVS Laxman (base price $400,000) found no bidders as did the entire English contingent, notable among them being off-spinner Graeme Swann, Ian Bell and James Anderson (Marquee player).  Ireland’s Kevin O’Brien also went unsold.

Of the 136 foreign players in the auction, only 19 were bought by the franchisees while two of the eight Indians -- Laxman and VRV Singh -- went into the unsold category. Injured paceman S Sreesanth’s name raised some eye brows when he was grabbed at his base price of $400,000 by Rajasthan Royals whose new captain Rahul Dravid was conspicuous by his absence at the auction.

“He has been a great player, but we are looking at younger players,” said Chargers coach Darren Lehmann when asked about ignoring Laxman. Chargers, though, went all out for Parthiv Patel to win the wicketkeeper-batsman at $650,000.   

While the bidding for Jadeja went on expected lines, West Indian Sunil Narine made heads turn, attracting a whopping $700,000 from a base price of $50,000. The Trinidadian off-spinner, who was impressive during the Champions League T20 last year, was pursued hotly by Mumbai Indians and KKR before the Kolakata side clinched the issue. “It’s all because of Nita (Ambani) bhabi,” said KKR owner Shah Rukh Khan in jest when asked if he thought it was worth the buy.

“You see, as owners we get stuck with one player during an auction and the price goes up. But if you see some other names, they have gone low on the list so it works both ways."

Another West Indian to laugh his way to the bank was all-rounder Andre Russell. The Jamaican, whose base price was $50,000, was sold to Daredevils for a handsome $450,000 with KKR pushing his value up.

Thisara Perera also hit the jackpot with Mumbai shelling out $650,000 for the hard-hitting Sri Lankan all-rounder. Unlike Narine, though, Perera is a more established player. Mumbai also made two smart buys in former South African opener Herschelle Gibbs and Aussie all-rounder Mitchell Johnson at their respective bid amount of $50,000 and $300,000.

Before prices hit the roof for Jadeja, Kiwi Brendon McCullum set the right tone for the proceedings going for his first IPL side KKR who netted the wicketkeeper-batsman for a huge $900,000. After silencing their initial contenders Rajasthan Royals, KKR fought hard with an equally aggressive Mumbai to seal the deal.

Barring Anderson, all the other four Marquee players found new IPL homes. While former Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan went to Challengers for $220,000 (just $20,000 more than base price), Mahela Jayawardene was successfully bid by Delhi Daredevils who won a straight fight with Chargers at $1.4 million.

The teams that are still left with some amount can now pick uncapped Indian players when the trading window opens on Monday.