BANGALORE // The opening batsman Gautam Gambhir fetched the highest price on the opening day of bidding for Indian Premier League players, heading to Kolkata Knight Riders for US$2.4 million (Dh8.8m).
The IPL franchises spent liberally on Indian players yesterday ahead of the fourth staging of the high-profile domestic Twenty20 tournament, but there were no takers for some big foreign names, including Brian Lara, Chris Gayle, Mark Boucher and Herschelle Gibbs.
Kolkata spent $2.1m to pick up all-rounder Yusuf Pathan. Pune spent $2.1m to get Robin Uthappa, while Mumbai Indians splashed out $2m on Rohit Sharma. Others to attract big fees included all-rounder Irfan Pathan (Delhi Daredevils, $1.9m), Yuvraj Singh (Pune, $1.8m) and Saurabh Tiwari (Bangalore Royal Challengers, $1.6m), completing a list of seven Indians at the top of the table.
Gambhir, who led Delhi in last year's IPL, was surprisingly not bid for by his former team, even as others clamoured for the left-hander. His record price was 12 times his base salary of $200,000, as new franchises Pune and Kochi as well as Mumbai Indians bid aggressively for him before Kolkata clinched the deal.
The highest bids before this auction were the $1.55m each for the England players Kevin Pietersen (Bangalore Royal Challengers) and Andrew Flintoff (Chennai Super Kings) during the second edition, in 2009.
Ten franchises are participating in the two-day bidding, including Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab - teams banished by the IPL for breaching ownership regulations but readmitted for the auction following a court order.
More than 350 players were up for grabs for the next three seasons, with the sequence of players coming up for auction decided by drawing of lots.
Surprisingly, no one bid for the former India captain Sourav Ganguly, who was a leading player for Kolkata and among 21 players with the highest base price of $400,000.
Those not bid for are likely to go under the hammer again towards the end of the auction today.
Among the foreign players, Sri Lanka's Mahela Jayawardene (Kochi, $1.5m), Australia's David Hussey (King's XI Punjab, $1.4m) and the South African paceman Dale Steyn (Deccan, $1.2m) formed the top rung.
The South Africans AB de Villiers (Bangalore), Jacques Kallis (Kolkata), the newly named Australia Twenty20 captain Cameron White (Deccan) and Sri Lankan spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan (Kochi) were sold for $1.1 million each.
New Zealand's Ross Taylor was the other player who touched the $1m mark.
The Australian veteran Adam Gilchrist moved from Deccan to King's XI Punjab for $900,000, while his compatriot Andrew Symonds was taken for $850,000 by Mumbai and will now play alongside Harbhajan Singh, whom he accused of racial abuse three years ago.
Twelve players, including the India captain MS Dhoni (Chennai), Sachin Tendulkar (Mumbai) and Shane Warne (Rajasthan), were retained by their original franchises.
Teams are allowed to spend a maximum of $9m, which includes money for those players retained from previous seasons.
The 2011 IPL season will be from April 8 to May 22.
Big names left on the shelf
Some of cricket’s biggest names failed to attract bids at yesterday’s IPL auction. Among them were Brian Lara, the holder of the highest individual scores in Test and first-class cricket, Graeme Swann, Matt Prior and James Anderson of the England team that beat Australia 3-1, the West Indies’ big-bitting Chris Gayle, the Indian star Sourav Ganguly,Tamim Iqbal, Chamara Kapugedera, Murali Kartik, Ajantha Mendis, Dilhara Fernando, Luke Wright, Mark Boucher, Graeme Manou, Herschelle Gibbs and Jesse Ryder.