IPL 4: Uthappa costlier than Gambhir

On the basis of on-field cricket
performances in the last three editions of the Indian Premiere League
(IPL 4), including runs scored and wickets taken, Robin Uthappa has
emerged as the costliest batsman in the latest auctions and not Gautam
Gambhir.


This
is because the Pune Sahara Warriors have paid a whopping Rs 1.9 lakh
per run Uthappa has scored so far in the previous three editions of the
IPL compared to Gambhir's Rs 1.3 lakh per run.


“Cost-per-run and
cost-per-wicket are among the parameters on which teams planned their
auction strategy,” a senior sports marketing executive said. And this is
the reason that the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are thrilled to have
got Gambhir even though he is the costliest player in the latest IPL
auctions commanding $2.4 million (Rs 11.04 crore), sources said. Even
the $2.1-million paycheck to Yusaf Pathan is a cost-effective deal for
the KKR as his cost-per-run is Rs 1.4 lakh, much lower than Uthappa.
Also, Pathan is in the select list of 11 IPL players to have scored a
100 in the tournament.
Amongst bowlers, it is the South
African Johan Botha for which the Rajasthan Royals have shelled out a
whopping Rs 1.4 crore per wicket that Botha has taken in his three-match
IPL career. In fact, Botha is the only overseas bowler to have the
shortest IPL tenure.

Compared to Botha,
our own pacer and the highest wicket taker in IPL so far, Rudra Pratap
Singh, seems to have got a raw deal as he is getting a meagre sum of Rs 6
lakh per wicket taken. However, Singh is an extremely good buy for team
Kochi who bagged him for $500,000 (Rs 2.3 crore), experts said.