The Hindu : Sport : IPL auction: Pollard, Bond get the highest price

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IPL auction: Pollard, Bond get the highest price

Special Correspondent

— PHOTO: AP

IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi with Shilpa Shetty (Rajasthan Royals), Preity Zinta (Kings XI Punjab) and Gayatri Reddy (Deccan Chargers) after the players’ auction in Mumbai on Tuesday.

Mumbai: Fast bowlers were the flavour of the DLF-IPL season 3 auction at the Trident, Bandra-Kurla Complex here on Tuesday.

Deccan Chargers, Hyderabad was desperate in search of an alternative to West Indian Fidel Edwards, who is prone to injury. Reluctant to raise the stakes beyond $600,000 for the South African left-arm seamer Wayne Parnell and losing New Zealand’s Shane Bond on the tie-breaker bid to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Deccan Chargers made a successful bid for the West Indian fast bowling sensation Kemar Roach at $720,000.

Undisclosed price

The third auction in three years of the IPL Twenty20 competition fizzled out once Mumbai Indians won the Trinidadian Kieron Pollard at an undisclosed price above $750,000. Delhi Daredevils bought Parnell at a high sum of $610,000, Kolkata Knight Riders took Bond at a price higher than $750,000 and Deccan Chargers heaved a sigh of relief with no rival for its bid for Roach.

The four franchises spent in excess of $2.83 million on Pollard, Parnell, Bond and Roach. How much Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders agreed to pay Pollard and Bond is not known. The rule though is that the players will receive only $750,000, the rest will be credited to IPL’s account.

As anticipated, the eight franchises showed no interest in the nine Pakistan players and for strategic reasons opted to overlook Australia’s Brad Haddin (base price $250,000) and Doug Bollinger (base price $200,000) and England’s Graeme Swann (base price $250,000).

No squandering money

The message from the franchises was that they would not squander money on players whose availability is restricted to a few matches.

England and Bangladesh will be busy in a Test series from March 12 to 24 and Australia is scheduled to play One-Day Internationals and a Test series from March 3 to 31. Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan (base price $100,000) too suffered because of his home commitments against England.

Thanks to the exposure he got in the Champions League in India, Pollard (base price of $200,000) appealed to Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders.

Mumbai Indians which signed up South Africa’s J.P. Duminy last year for a whopping $950,000 once again showed its money power quoting a sum that was in excess of the bids from the other three and breaking the deadlock.

Expensive players

Mumbai Indians now has four expensive players: Sachin Tendulkar in excess of $one million, Sanath Jayasuriya ($975,000), J.P. Duminy ($950,000) and Pollard ($750,000). “We have been guided by Sachin Tendulkar and T.A. Sekar and that’s why we chose Pollard,” said Nita Ambani, owner of Mumbai Indians.

Kolkata Knight Riders entered the fray (for Bond) making a bid for the first time at $640,000 as against Chennai Super Kings’ $630,000. Finally Kolkata and Deccan Chargers forced a tie-break with the former eventually quoting a higher sum to win the New Zealand fast bowler.

After RCB bought Morgan at $220,000, Rajasthan Royals, on the recommendation of Shane Warne, bagged Damien Martyn at a base price of $100,000 and Chennai Super Kings picked up Thissara Perera at $50,000, Lalit Modi announced a revised and closed bid auction for Chennai Super Kings, Rajasthan Royals, Deccan Chargers and Kings XI Punjab because the other four had exhausted their slots for overseas players.

As a result Chennai Super Kings, Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab selected Justin Kemp, Adam Voges and Yusuf Abdulla respectively. When Mohammad Kaif was recalled into the auction, Kings XI Punjab outbid Royal Challengers, Bangalore at $250,000.

Sourav Ganguly was part of the team that represented Kolkata Knight Riders, Anil Kumble — Royal Challengers Bangalore, V.B. Chandrasekhar — Chennai Super Kings, T.A. Sekar and Robin Singh — Mumbai Indians.

Auction results: Kieron Pollard (WI) $750,000 (Mumbai Indians), Wayne Parnell (SA) $610,000 (Delhi Daredevils), Shane Bond (NZ) $750,000 (Kolkata Knight Riders), Kemar Roach (WI) $720,000 (Deccan Chargers), Eoin Morgan (Eng) $220,000 (Royal Challengers Bangalore), Damien Martyn (Aus) $100,000 (Rajasthan Royals), Thissara Perera (SL) $50,000 (Chennai Super Kings), Justin Kemp (SA), $100,000 (Chennai Super Kings), Adam Voges (Aus) $50,000 (Rajasthan Royals), Yusuf Abdulla (SA) $50,000 (Kings XI Punjab), Mohammad Kaif (Ind) $250,000 (Kings XI Punjab).

India under-19: Ashok Menaria (Royal Challengers Bangalore), Harmeet Singh (Deccan Chargers), Harshal Patel (Mumbai Indians) — Rs. 8 lakh each.

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