Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff, the England stars, were sold for US$ 1.55 million each at the IPL auction on Friday, making them the highest-paid cricketers in the Twenty20 league. However, it was Mashrafe Mortaza, the 25-year-old fast bowler from Bangladesh, who stole the show in Goa after attracting a winning bid of US$ 600,000 from the Kolkata Knight Riders that was exactly 12 times his base price of US$ 50,000.
The other stars of the auction were JP Duminy, the South African batsman, who was bagged by Mumbai Indians for US$ 950,000 (base price: US$ 300,000), and most unexpectedly, Tyron Henderson, the Middlesex allrounder, who was bought by Rajasthan Royals for US$ 650,000, which was over six times his base price of US$ 100,000.
The auction also threw up some shocks as international players such as Ramnaresh Sarwan, Stuart Clark, Brad Haddin, Shakib Al Hasan and Samit Patel remaining unsold. It was a bad outing for cricketers from Australia who were on top of the franchises' wishlist last year. Only two Australians - Shaun Tait ($375,000) and Tasmania batsman George Bailey ($50,000) - drew winning bids from a list of 18 Australians.
As expected, however, Pietersen and Flintoff took home a combined purse of US$ 3.1 million. Pietersen was bought by Bangalore Royal Challengers and Flintoff by Chennai Super Kings. The other England players who were picked up at the auction were Ravi Bopara, bought by Kings XI Punjab for US$ 450,000, and Owais Shah and Paul Collingwood, who were bought by Delhi Daredevils for US$ 275,000 each. "They [England players] are big stars and we are looking forward to their participation in the IPL," Lalit Modi, the IPL chairman, said.
In the end though, it was Mortaza's purchase, after a bidding war between Kolkata and Punjab, which sparked a buzz in the auction room. The bidding, initially in segments of US$ 10,000 each, lasted nearly half-an-hour before Punjab threw up their hands. "It makes great sense for Kolkata," Modi said. "Bangladesh falls under the Kolkata's catchment area as per a new proposal we are discussing on letting franchises stage matches overseas. This could work well for the KKR later."
All the 17 slots that were available at the auction were filled from a list of 50.
IPL auction 2009
List of players sold
February 6, 2009
Seventeen slots were filled in over two hours of the 2009 IPL auction in Goa. Here is a list of the players who have been bought at the auction (base price in brackets; all numbers in US$):
Pool A Shaun Tait to Rajasthan Royals 375,000 (250,000) JP Duminy to Mumbai Indians 950,000 (300,000) Andrew Flintoff to Chennai Super Kings 1.55 million (950,000) Kevin Pietersen to Bangalore Royal Challengers 1.55 million (1.35 million)
Pool B Fidel Edwards to Deccan Chargers 150,000 (150,000) Owais Shah to Delhi Daredevils 275,000 (150,000) Paul Collingwood to Delhi 275,000 (250,000)
Stuart Clark, Brad Haddin and Chamara Kapugedara were unsold.
Pool C Tyron Henderson to Rajasthan 650,000 (100,000) Ravi Bopara to Kings XI Punjab 450,000 (150,000) Thilan Thushara to Chennai 140,000 (100,000) Jesse Ryder to Bangalore 160,000 (100,000) Kyle Mills to Mumbai 150,000 (150,000).
Ashwell Prince, Phil Jaques, Andre Nel, Luke Wright and Nuwan Kulasekara were unsold.
Pool D Dwayne Smith to Deccan Chargers 100,000 (100,000) Jerome Taylor to Punjab 150,000 (150,000) Mohammad Ashraful to Mumbai 75,000 (75,000)
Samit Patel, Shakib-al-Hassan, Morne Van Wyk, Stephen Smith, Ashley Noffke, Gulam Bodi and Daren Powell were unsold.
Pool E Tamim Iqbal, Jon Moss, Bryce McGain, James Franklin, Aiden Blizzard, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Michael Klinger, Kaushalya Weeraratne, Prasanna Jayawardene and Dominic Thornley were unsold.
Pool F Mashrafe Mortaza to Kolkata Knight Riders 600,000 (50,000) George Bailey to Chennai 50,000 (50,000)
Yusuf Abdulla, Daniel Harris, Kemar Roach, Aaron Bird, Michael Dighton, Michael Hill and Brett Geeves were unsold.
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FROM- Cricinfo