16.03 - Steven Smith, the upcoming leg-spinning all-rounder from Australia, goes to Kochi for 200,000.
16.02 - Dwayne Bravo goes to Chennai for his base price, 200,000. Remember, Ravindra Jadeja was bought for 950,000.
16.00 - Angelo Matthew, the exciting Sri Lankan all-rounder, goes to Pune for 950,000.
15.54 - Abhishek Nayar gets 16 times his base price, sold to Punjab for 800,000!
15.48 – England bowler Stuart Broad, a fine all-rounder, goes to Kings XI Punjab for 400,000.
15.46 – Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan goes to Kolkata Knight Riders for 425,000.
15.45 – England’s Luke Wright goes unsold.
15.39 – Ravindra Jadeja goes to Kochi for 950,000. Where are the Jadeja jokes now?
15.36 – Australian all-rounder and former Kings XI Punjab employee James Hopes moves with Delhi Daredevils for 350,000.
15.33 - Davy Jacobs goes to Mumbai for 190,000.
15.28 - No takes for Mark Boucher and Matt Prior. They are veteran players of the long format; maybe the IPL teams reckoned they don’t have a long shelf life.
15.24 - Tim Paine, the Australian keeper bat and their T20 vice-captain, goes for 270,000 to Pune.
15.19 - Brad Haddin, the Australian keeper batsman, goes to Kolkata for 325,000. Haddin was in fine form in the Ashes.
15.16 - Naman Ojha goes to Delhi for 270,000. There are stress balls strewn over the tables on all camps.
15.13 - Kings XI take Dinesh Karthik for 900,000. A good keeper, and a useful middle-order bat. But is he better than Parthiv and Saha?
15.07 -Parthiv goes to Kochi for 290,000. Chennai Super Kings take Wriddhiman Saha for 100,000.
15.04 – Australian wicketkeeper Graham Manou goes unsold. Parthiv Patel next.
15.01 - Hold your breath, Brian Lara is next. Base priced at 400,000. Any takers? No. Lara goes unsold. This isn’t a surprise. Lara has been talking of making a comeback to cricket but hasn’t been in great shape for this level of cricket.
14.59 - David Warner, the big-hitting Australian opener, is next. He had made a hundred in the last IPL playing for Delhi. He goes to Delhi again, for 750,000.
14.58 - David Hussey goes to Kings XI for 1.4 million. His more accomplished brother Mike went to Chennai for just 425,000. Strange.
14.49 - Controversy over Saurabh Tiwary. RCB had the Ranchi youngster at an astonishing 1.4 million dollar, but as auctioneer Richard Madley put the hammer down, Kings XI claimed making a late bid. The bid was for 1.6 million.
Tiwary has been sold to Bangalore for 1.6 million.
14.40 – Shikhar Dhawan next. He was with Mumbai. For 300,000 he goes to Deccan.
14.36 – JP Duminy next. Deccan buy him for 300,000.
14.31 – Jesse Ryder unsold immediately after the lunch break. Herschelle Gibbs next. The retired South African and Deccan Chargers batsman also goes unsold. Michael Hussey next. Hussey has been retained by Chennai at $425,000. Good buy.
We break for an hour-long lunch.
1.21 - RP Singh, the Purple Cap winner in 2009, has gone to Kochi for 500,000. He joins Sreesanth there.
13.11 – Irfan Pathan next. Remember what Yahoo! wrote about him yesterday. He’s striving to get back to top form. His brother Yusuf has already been sold for $2.1 million to KKR.
Kings XI have put 1 million on the table for Irfan! What next?
Kings XI want to retain Irfan. They’ve not put 1.8 million on Irfan. It’s a contest between Kings XI and Delhi, who want Pathan badly.
Delhi take Irfan for 1.9 million — that’s four million dollars between him and his brother Yusuf.
13.10 - Another surprise! Chris Gayle goes unsold. Who woulda thunk?
13.04 - Sreesanth next. Will Kochi go for him? Kochi cut in late, at 900,000.
Kochi has managed to get Sreesanth at 900,000.
13.02 - Brendon McCullum next. Which team will go for him? Remember his 158 in the first IPL match? He goes to Kochi for 475,000. Sidhu describes McCullum as a man with ‘paranormal abilities’.
13.00 - Vettori goes to 550,000 to RCB. This makes no sense. Vettori has consistently been one of the best, most economical spinners in all T20 cricket.
12.57 – VVS Laxman goes to Kochi for 400,000, his base price.
12.49 - Johan Botha, the South African all-rounder next. 700,000 and counting.
950,000 from Rajasthan and Botha’s sold. Astonishing price for a bits and pieces player.
12.42 - Robin Uthappa next. The RCB batsman has had fitness problems but he’s a hugely popular player.
1 million on the table from Kochi. They’re going for Indian players at this auction.
2 million from Kochi! And the bidding continues.
Pune take Uthappa at 2.1 million dollars! He’s the fourth Indian today to draw a bid of $2 million or more.
12.39 - Graeme Smith, South Africa captain and Rajasthan opener, goes to Pune Warriors for 500,000.
12.35 - Rahul Dravid goes to Rajasthan Royals for 500,000. That’s less than half of what Bangalore’s Icon player had been earlier paid.
12.29 - Adam Gilchrist next. Captain of Deccan Chargers, goes to Punjab, for 900,000.
12.27 – Kumar Sangakkara, former captain of Kings XI and current Sri Lanka captain, goes to Deccan Chargers for 700,000.
12.25 – Mumbai Indians take Andrew Symonds for 850,000. Symonds had got 1.5 million at the inaugural auction in 2008. He will be playing in the same team as Harbhajan Singh. How about that?
12.21 - Rohit Sharma has been sold to Mumbai for $ 2 million! Do readers think this is a good buy?
12.15 - It’s Kallis. This should be a hotly-contested bid. Kallis has been in excellent form, and had done well in previous IPLs too. Will RCB retain him? He goes for 1.1 million to Kolkata. This is Kolkata’s third seven-figure buy today. How will they build the rest of the team?
12.12: Cameron White gets a million-dollar bid from Punjab. White goes to Deccan for 1.1 million.
12.05: And we’re back. Sourav Ganguly up next. The bidding starts at 400,00! No takers! Ganguly goes unsold! That should be the end of Ganguly’s cricketing days.
The auction takes a 15 minute break. The first session has seen Kolkata spend half their purse of 9 million going just for Gambhir and Yusuf Pathan. No action from current champions Chennai; Mumbai went after Gambhir aggressively but they haven’t made any buys yet.
Surprisingly, Zaheer who is in such good form was sold for just 900,000 to his former IPL team Bangalore.
Are batsmen valued more than bowlers? Taylor, Mahela, Yuvraj also drew seven-figure bids.
11.50 - AB de Villiers, the in-form South African batsman, goes to Bangalore for 1.1 million. He was formerly with the Delhi Daredevils.
11.43 - Yuvraj Singh is next. Prepare for some surprises. Kings XI open another bid at 1 million. Pune Warriors take Yuvraj for $ 1.8 million. That’s less than what Yusuf and Gambhir got.
11.40 - Kings XI fianlly wake up. They go for one of their own, Mahela Jayawardene at $1 million. Remember, Mahela had a terrific IPL 2010 and World T20 2010. Kochi are on the telephone, they go for Mahela at 1.5 million. And Mahela’s sold to Kochi at 1.5 million.
11.37 - Kevin Pietersen goes to Deccan for $650,000. He’d earlier being bought by RCB for $1.55 million.
11.27 - Yusuf Pathan is next. This will be very interesting. 950,000 from Deccan – they want him bad. $1.3 million from KKR and counting – yet another millionaire today. $1.6m from Kochi. $1.7m from KKR, Kochi hit back with $1.8m. Will this bid cross 2 million?
Yes it does! Kochi say 2 million for Yusuf, KKR say 2.1 million. Gambhir’s record is in danger.
Kolkata take Yusuf at $2.1 million. They had earlier taken Gambhir at a record $2.4 million. Kolkata have used half their purse of $9 million.
11.23 - Ross Taylor, the big-hitting Royal Challengers batsman, is next. Rajasthan Royals make an appearance, at 900,000. Now it’s 1 million. Two million-dollar bids already in the first 26 minutes.
Sold! Rajasthan snare Taylor at $1 million, right under Mallya’s nose.
11.20 – Zaheer Khan, formerly Bangalore and Mumbai, next to be auctioned. Bangalore get him at $900,000.
11.17 – Tillakaratne Dilshan, the Sri Lankan dasher formerly with Delhi, is next under the hammer. $650,000 and he goes to Bangalore.
11.06 - Gautam Gambhir is the first marquee player to be auctioned. Kochi open the bid with at $200,000.
Mumbai Indians and Pune Warriors are going for him. 450,000 and counting. 700,000 and no respite. This is a big opening. Kochi jumps back into it at 850,000. Royal Challengers cut in at 900,000. One million and counting from RCB!
1.8 million! Gambhir becomes the highest paid IPL player! And the bidding goes on.
2 million! Kolkata make their first move, and it’s a big move.
Gambhir has a base price of a mere $200,000.
At 2.4 million dollars, or 11.04 crore rupees Gautam Gambhir is sold to Kolkata. This is the highest an IPL player has been ever paid. What a start to the auction.
11.05 am: The auction kicks off. Chirayu Amin, Sundar Raman make their welcome speeches.
The much awaited players auction for IPL 4 starts in a short while and with over 350 to go under the hammer, all eyes are on Bangalore. Several teams are likely to be completely rejigged from their earlier avatars. We’ll be blogging live through the auction to give you all the instant updates.
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