Bangalore-
Yuvraj Singh and Dinesh Karthik were the two most expensive buys at half time on the first day of the seventh IPL auction in Bangalore, while the value of the Pathan brothers – Yusuf and Irfan – recorded a steep decline from 2011. Both Yuvraj and Karthik, who were part of the 16-player marquee lot that kicked off the auction, were fiercely contested by three franchises. Royal Challengers Bangalore made a successful bid for Yuvraj at Rs 14 crores ($2.33 million), while Delhi Daredevils bought Karthik for Rs 12.5 crores ($2.08 million).
Kevin Pietersen, the former England batsman whose international career was recently brought to an abrupt end by the ECB, remained a favourite in the IPL with Delhi Daredevils, his previous employers, becoming the first franchise to exercise the right-to-match card to buy him at Rs 9 crores ($1.5 million).
Yuvraj was previously part of the Pune Warriors franchise, who had bought him for $1.8 million in 2011. Yuvraj has been out of form recently and was not a part of the Asia Cup squad, but franchise insiders had revealed on the eve of the auction that he was still a key player in the IPL.
Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals made the opening bids for Yuvraj before Vijay Mallya, the owner of Royal Challengers, raised the paddle to bid at Rs 3.5 crores (approx $583,000). The bid escalated fast and reached the 10-crore mark and it seemed Mallya had his man.
However, there was some confusion as the auctioneer apparently failed to notice the paddle raised by Kolkata Knight Riders. Knight Riders withdrew their bid at Rs 13.5 crores ($2.25 million) before Mallya raised another Rs 50 lakhs to close the debate.
Mallya said later that Virat Kohli, the Royal Challengers’ captain, was “keen” on getting Yuvraj. Along with Kohli, Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers, Royals Challengers now have one of the most star-studded and powerful batting orders in the IPL.
“Virat Kohli, our captain, was very keen on him. That extra Rs 4 crores was somewhat unfortunate, but the auctioneer has the sole discretion,” Mallya said. “Everybody saw him look around the room before the hammer fell but he then chose to continue the bidding. So life must go on.”
As for Karthik, Daredevils raised the paddle as soon as the bidding began. Sunrisers Hyderabad competed for a bit before Knight Riders once again decided to make a late bid. It was the second time Knight Riders, owned by industrialist Jay Mehta and Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan, entered the bid once it had crossed the 10-crore mark. But just like they had done in the case of Yuvraj, they withdrew immediately, allowing Daredevils to bag Karthik.
Incidentally, it is understood that Karthik was one of the favourites likely to be retained by his previous IPL franchise, Mumbai Indians. Mumbai had bought out Karthik’s contract from Kings XI for over $1 million in 2012. But Karthik eventually entered the auction and saw his value double to over $2 million.
In contrast, both Irfan and Yusuf, who have been battling injury and patchy form in the domestic season, saw their worth plummet compared to the millions they were paid in the 2011 auction. Yusuf was the second player bought in the 2011 auction when Knight Riders paid $2.1 million.
His base price in today’s auction was Rs 2 crores and only Sunrisers and Kings XI made the opening bids, but withdrew easily before Knight Riders used the right-to-match card to buy him back at Rs 3.25 crores ($541,000).
Irfan, who was bought Daredevils in 2011 for $1.9 million, had listed his base price at Rs 1.5 crores. It climbed to Rs 2.4 crores ($400,000) before Sunrisers clinched him.
Although it was too early to establish any trends, it was evident teams were not interested in buying Sri Lankan players. Mahela Jayawardene was the first player to remain unsold as franchises did not bid for Sri Lankan players, who are scheduled to tour England from May.
So far franchises have utilised seven right-to-match cards: Pietersen (Daredevils), Jacques Kallis (Knight Riders), Yusuf (Knight Riders), Faf du Plessis (Chennai Super Kings), Amit Mishra (Sunrisers), Darren Sammy (Sunrisers), Pragyan Ojha (Mumbai) were the players bought back by their previous IPL teams.
Franchises had pointed out on Tuesday that the use of the right-to-match cards would eventually come down to run-time and how the auction went along. Stephen Fleming, the Chennai Super Kings coach, said it was a tough choice for the franchise to decide whether to use the right-to-match card for Michael Hussey or du Plessis.
“It very much came down to who came out first (for bidding),” Fleming said. “We value them both a lot, but with the way the bidding is going and the way the room is working, it is a little bit risky to leave an opportunity.”
But there was also some anxiety displayed by some franchises like Knight Riders, who decided to enter the bidding for South African allrounder Jacques Kallis. Super Kings were also interested in Kallis but withdrew later.
“Part of the strategy was to try and conserve the card just in case we needed it later,” Venky Mysore, Knight Riders’ chief executive, said. “So we said let us see how far the bid goes: we paid a little bit of a price but luckily we got everyone we would have used the card for. So we came out okay.”
Asked why the franchise bought back Yusuf, who had a terrible three-year stint at Knight Riders when he managed just 809 runs, from 48 matches, with just one half-century. Yusuf also took 18 wickets at an economy rate of around seven. Mysore, however, pointed out that the franchise still retained the confidence in the Indian allrounder.
“He is a one of the match-winners,” Mysore said. “It is a bit unfortunate that he probably hasn’t fired as many times. He has won us several games, sometimes more with the ball than with the bat. But on his day he can take the game single-handedly, so we always had him in our plans and we are happy we got him at approximately one-third the price we got him for the last time.”
Unsold players so far
Mahela Jayawardene, Ross Taylor, Naman Ojha, Matthew Wade, Craig Keiswetter, Kusal Perera, David Hussey, Angelo Mathews, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Azhar Mahmood, Praveen Kumar, Ajantha Mendis, Murali Kartik, Nathan McCullum, Robin Peterson, Cameron White, Darren Bravo, Alex Hales, Marlon Samuels, S Badrinath, Ian Bell, Tamim Iqbal, Martin Guptill, Lendl Simmons, Tim Paine, Kaushal Silva, Andre Fletcher, Dane Vilas, Denesh Ramdin, Prasanna Jayawardene, Luke Ronchi, Andre Russell, Dan Christian, Ravi Bopara, Luke Wright, RP Singh, Brett Lee, Munaf Patel, Suleiman Benn, Rangana Herath, Imran Tahir, Nathan Lyon, Suraj Randiv, Ramesh Powar, Brad Hogg, Akila Dananjaya, Neil McKenzie, Chris Lynn, Herschelle Gibbs, Ben Rohrer, Farhaan Behardian, Henry Davids, Adam Voges, Upul Tharanga, Hamish Rutherford, Abhinav Mukund, Johan Botha, James Franklin, Sachithra Senanayake, Andrew McDonald, John Hastings, Roelof van der Merwe, Jesse Ryder, Fidel Edwards, Manpreet Gony, Joginder Sharma, Clint McKay, Devendra Bishoo, Ashley Nurse, Fawad Ahmed, Nikita Miller, Nicky Boje, James Muirhead, Richard Levi, Colin Munro, Lahiru Thirimanne, Phillip Hughes, Vaughn van Jaarsveld, Dean Elgar, Travis Birt, Kieran Powell, Luke Pomersbach, Neil Broom, Samit Patel, Vernon Philander, Jacob Oram, Christopher Barnwell, Farveez Maharoof, Dimitri Mascarenhas, David Wiese, Jeevan Mendis, Doug Bollinger, Pat Cummins, Jackson Bird, Pankaj Singh, Ryan McLaren, Dirk Nannes, Abhimanyu Mithun, Adam Milne, Shaun Tait, Wayne Parnell, Mohammad Kaif, Chamara Kapugedera, Adrian Barath, Rob Quiney, Hemang Badani, Jehan Mubarak, Justin Ontong, Wasim Jaffer, Dilshan Munaweera, Callum Ferguson, Dilruwan Perera, Mahmudullah, Grant Elliott, Rayad Emrit, Elton Chigumbura, Garey Mathurin, Angelo Perera, Danza Hyatt, Rikki Clarke, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, VRV Singh, Krishmar Santokie, Sudeep Tyagi, Kemar Roach, Marchant de Lange, Mitchell McClenaghan, Ben Laughlin, Tino Best, Jade Dernbach, Sheldon Cottrell, Jerome Taylor, Kyle Mills, Juan Theron, Nuwan Kulasekera, Simon Jones, Shaminda Eranga, Hamish Bennett, Ian Butler, Rory Kleinveldt, Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal, Aavishkar Salvi, Isuru Udana