SOLD OUT!!!

The last time we spoke of the IPL auctions, we got them spot on! There were a few questions on Brad Haddin but, we told you it would be a definite “NO”! Besides the Pakistani’s a.k.a. World champs in T20 we got almost everything right. The lack of interest in the Pakistani players was mutual among all the franchisee owners. Almost as though they had agreed upon before hand or Lalit pie face Modi had including it in the rules sheet. So, minus the Pakistani’s from the list the franchises had only 1 maximum 2 slots to fill in their respective teams. Some had the slots but had run out of “money”!

Kings xi Punjab acquired Adrian Barath for 75,000$ outside of the auctions. This meant they were starting with a balance of 650,000$. First player to go under the hammer was Shahid boom boom Afridi also the captain of the world champions. He failed to get any response. All wondered it must be the high base price of 250,000$. Next was Kieron Pollard, and suddenly every franchise wanted him on their side, like Ramesses had found Moses. It wasn’t surprising as 4 teams locked their maximum bids of 750,000$ for Pollard. This meant the tie-breaker was on now. Any team with the highest bid now will get the services of Pollard and the difference amount was reaped by the IPL (read B.C.C.I.) Mumbai Indians out bid everyone and thus Pollard now joins the Indians. News is that M.I. side bid a whooping 2.75 million $ tats nearly twice the amount KP & Freddie were bought for last season, breaking all records. One by one, every Pakistani player who came onto question was shown the middle finger in a polite way. Shane Bond, drew the next big interest again resulting in a tie-breaker and finally joining the Kolkata Knight Riders. Again the sum is said to be 1.3 million $.

If you thought these were easy picks for anyone to predict, we also managed to get Damien Martyn spot on. Martyn joins the Warne led Aussie Royals oops Rajasthan Royals team for a steal away price of 100,000$. Adam Vogues, the only other Australian picked up today, once again by the Rajasthan Royals side for 50,000$. Eoin Morgan was chosen by the Royal Challengers Bangalore for 220,000$ but, it was the cockroach, Kemar Roach who went for 720,000$ picked up by the defending champions, Deccan Chargers. The other fast bowler who gained interest was Wayne Parnell had stiff bidding finally ended up at the Daredevils camp for 610,000$ further strengthening the Delhi side.

The Chennai Super Kings outfit, who were outbid in every attempt ended up choosing Justin Kemp for 100,000$ and continued their love-affair for Sri Lankan cricketers picking Thissara Perera for 50,000$. Again, predicted by us. When there are players like Pomersbach and Noffke available at cheaper rates we can only say CSK only wasted their money this time around. Whether they are going to use the money from Freddie’s withdrawal and buy players outside the auctions is still unknown.

Kings xi Punjab also picked up Yusuf Abdulla after some sweet success in the previous edition of the IPL. Coming at 50,000$ I would say it’s a rather smart pick. Douggie Bollinger was left out with no buyers. 3 u-19 players joined the RCB, DC and MI sides. But, the final shocker came when Md. Kaif was re-called for bidding. From 100,000$ his value went upto 250,000$ joining his bum-chum pal Yuvraj at KxiP. Truly, a citi moment of success I should say. :-)

Which leaves us with just the cricket to play, the trophy to be won. Daredevils look mighty strong with the addition of Parnell into their attack, Mum Indians look well balanced as always, Rajasthan Royals have their Aussie flavor, Deccan Chargers look to hurt a few, break a few, KxiP were smart during the auctions, KKR the lesser spoken the better, RCB were fairly quiet and CSK were plain yellow, to say the least. Looking forward to an exciting IPL, “Wah!”