By Sanjay Rajan
Mumbai, India - Indian one-day captain Mahendra Dhoni and Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds topped the bidding as teams spent big ahead of the inaugural Twenty20 Indian Premier League (IPL).
Chennai splashed out $1,5-million (about R8-million) for Dhoni while Hyderabad paid $1,35-million (about R10-million) for Symonds at a glitzy auction to determine who plays where in the IPL tournament starting in April.
"It is amazing drama," Inderjit Bindra, a member of the IPL governing council, told reporters. "The market is determining the price. That's how a free market economy should flow."
Dhoni was snapped up by Chennai in the first round of the sale.
Retired Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne was the first player to go under the hammer in a five-star Mumbai hotel conference room filled with cricketers, celebrities and tycoons, fetching $450 000 (about R3-million) from Jaipur.
The team will pay the winning bid to the player annually. The contracts are for a three-year period and are guaranteed by the Indian cricket board.
India's multitude private television channels flashed developments by the minute sending the cricket-crazy country into a frenzy.
Indian paceman Ishant Sharma was bought by Kolkata for $950,000 and his partner Rudra Pratap Singh fetched $875,000 and was bought by Hyderabad.
Warne's compatriot fast bowler Brett Lee was snapped up by Mohali for $900,000 while Australia captain Ricky Ponting was bought by Kolkata for $400 000.
Mos valuable
The Mumbai franchise, which has Sachin Tendulkar as the designated city player and is owned by India's richest company Reliance Industries, paid $975 000 for Sri Lankan Sanath Jayasuriya and $850 000 for India spinner Harbhajan Singh.
With the designated city players to get 15 per cent more than the highest paid player in their teams, Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly of Kolkata, Rahul Dravid of Bangalore and Yuvraj Singh of Mohali also cross the $1-million mark per annum earnings.
The eight franchise teams of the IPL - Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mohali and Mumbai - had a budget of up to $5-million each to purchase contracted players. The maximum number of overseas signings was capped at eight per team.
"In all 75 players were sold. We withdrew Mohammad Yousuf (Pakistan) and Ashwell Prince (South Africa)," IPL chairman Lalit Modi said at the end of the closed-door auction that lasted for over eight hours. Virender Sehwag was moved up to the 'designated city player' category.
The 44-day IPL starts on April 18 and will feature 59 matches.
No single event has made global cricket news in this manner since Kerry Packer's circuit did over thirty years ago, but unlike the IPL, the late Australian media magnate's event was a breakaway league.
Some of the country's biggest companies, including spirit company UB Group, have bought franchises. Bollywood stars Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta have bought into the Kolkata and Mohali franchises, adding further glamour to the league.
Zinta, who accompanied IPL chairman Lalit Modi for one of the media announcements, clapped in glee when Modi announced to reporters that India pacer Shanthakumaran Sreesanth was bought by Mohali for $625,000. Mohali also bought India all-rounder Irfan Pathan for $925,000.
Australian wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist, who last month retired from test cricket, went to Hyderabad for $700,000. Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan went to Chennai for $600 000.
The players were bid in sets of 12 according to their annual base price, multiple-skills and expected availability for the inaugural year. (Editing by Miles Evans) - Reuters