Knight Riders buys Gambhir for a record $2.4 million

BIG DAY:Team owners Preity Zinta (Kings XI Punjab) arrive for the Indian
Premier League player auction in Bangalore on Saturday.












Chennai: Left-handed opener Gautam Gambhir was bought by Kolkata
Knight Riders (KKR) for a record $ 2.4 million (for each year) on the
first day of the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction in Bangalore on
Saturday.



England's Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff, who went for $ 1.55
million each in 2009, jointly held the record for the previous highest
price. The players were signed up by the franchises for a two-year
period. This could be enhanced by an additional season if the cricketer
and the franchise reached an agreement.



The auction, before IPL Season-4, included new entrants Pune Warriors
and the franchise from Kochi, making it a total of 10 teams.



On a day when the Indian players dominated, big-hitters Yusuf Pathan
and Robin Uthappa were purchased by KKR and Pune Warriors respectively
for a whopping $ 2.1 million each. Mumbai Indians won stroke-maker Rohit
Sharma for $ 2 million, while Delhi Daredevils claimed all-rounder
Irfan Pathan for $ 1.9 million. The influential Yuvraj Singh was picked
up by Pune Warriors for $ 1.8 million. These were the top six successful
bids for the day.

Smooth-stroking Sri Lankan batsman Mahela Jayawardene was the most
expensive foreign buy on day one — he was won by the Kochi franchise for
$ 1.5 million. Yet this amount was lesser than the $ 1.6 million Royal
Challengers Bangalore paid for a fringe Indian cricketer in Sourabh
Tiwary.



There was no Pakistani player listed in the auction.



Gayle, Lara unsold



Significantly, power-hitter Chris Gayle, the legendary Brian Lara and
the iconic Sourav Ganguly remained unsold. Interestingly, the
franchises did not display any interest in Graeme Swann, among the
leading contemporary spinners, and probing swing bowler James Anderson.
Both represent a resurgent England side that emerged triumphant in the
ICC World Twenty20 in West Indies last year.



The availability of some of the overseas players during the IPL was among the factors which determined bidding by the franchises

If any of the franchises expresses interest in any cricketer who
missed out on day one, his name can come up in the auction again on
Sunday.



Chennai Super Kings (CSK), holder of both the IPL and Champions
League titles, lost spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan (signed up for $
1.1 million) to the Kochi franchise but succeeded in buying back
off-spinner R. Ashwin ($ 850,000), S. Badrinath ($800,000) and Michael
Hussey ($ 425,000). CSK had earlier kept its four leading players (M.S.
Dhoni for $1.8 million, Suresh Raina, $ 1.3 million, M. Vijay, $ 900,000
and Albie Morkel, $ 500,000) using up the maximum available limit of $
4.5 million for retaining players without auction from a total of purse
of $ 9 million.



After day one, Royal Challengers Bangalore spent $7.95 million out of
$9 million, the most by a franchise in this auction so far.