Indian Premier League Observer » auction

IPL could go for round 3 auction of players after Australia postpones pak tour

IPL Observer — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 09:54:24 +0000

No doubt, the round 1 and round 2 of IPL auctions were a huge hit. Now, that reason, coupled with some other, could prompt the BCCI, the cash-rich Indian cricket board to go for a third round of auctions for the IPL tournament.

First and the foremost reason why the BCCI could launch a third IPL auction is that Australia has now postponed their tour of Pakistan; and a number of players who were not available for round 1 and round 2 could turn up for the auction.

The second reason for a potential third round of IPL auction is that as the popularity of IPL has increased and the tournament has attained a reputation, many foreign players are now likely to ditch their cricket boards and knock on the doors of IPL. Cricket boards like the England cricket board could see an increasing pressure from the players to join IPL.

18 players up for grabs in 2nd IPL auction on March 11

IPL Observer — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 07:02:44 +0000

Eighteen players, incuding Pakistan’s Misabah-ul-Haq, Bangladesh’s Mohammed Ashraful and Australia’s Shane Watson, will be up for grabs in the second IPL auction to be held on March 11.

Seven New Zealand players, four Aussies, three Pakistanis, two Bangladeshis and one player each from Sri Lanka and South Africa will be auctioned on March 11.
There are no English players.

Apart from these players, 13 players have expressed interest to be part of auction process, according to the BCCI.

Many team owners have money left to be spent on players, which is a reason why a second auction is being held.

The teams will have to inform IPL about players outside the list of 18 announced now, if they are interested.

The IPL would then contact the respective boards.

IPL orgainsers have said this would be the last auction this season.Each team can spend $5 million for players.

The expenditure for picking up players who were not available in the initial auction is not included in the $5 million cap. Expenditure for Indian players not in the auction would also be not included in the cap.

Teams would have to be finalised 30 days before April 18, when the Twenty20 tournament kicks off.

Players for second auction:

New Zealand
Ross Taylor, Peter Fulton, Jamie How, Jeetan Patel, Chris Martin, Kyle Mills, James Franklin

Pakistan
Mohammad Yousuf, Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Hafeez

Australia
Brad Hodge, Shane Watson, James Hopes, Luke Pomersbach

Bangladesh
Mohammad Ashraful, Mashrafe Mortaza.

South Africa
Ashwell Prince

Sri Lanka
Prasanna Jayawardene

DLF IPL’s 2nd player auction next week

IPL Observer — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 05:38:16 +0000

The Indian Premier League (IPL) will conduct its second auction next week, in a move aimed to give room for franchises which have still money left. Franchises can spend a maximum of $5 and a minimum of $3.3 millionfor buying players.

The first IPL auction was held in Mumbai’s Hilton Hotel on February 20th. IPL’s Icon players Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguky, Yuvraj Singh and Viendra Sehwag are to be paid 15 percent more than the top player of the respective teams.

Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni got the highest bid from India Cements’ Chennai IPL team at $1.5 million. IPL organisers are also beting heavily on the Twenty20 tournament being included in the International Cricket Council’s future tours programme, which means its schedule would be taken into consideration while fixing international schedules, to avoid overlaps.

Younis Khan peeved at IPL for not accomodating more Pakistan players

IPL Observer — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 06:13:25 +0000

Pakistan batsman Younis Khan is peeved at the pay packets for Pakistani stars participating in IPL. Younis Khan – who has been bought by Jaipur IPL team for $ 225,000 – feels the IPL teams should have spent more money to bag more Pakistan players.

Only seven players were snapped up by the IPL teams in the auction held at Mumbai’s Hilton Hotel in February. The seven players include dashing all rounder Shahid Afridi andMisabah-ul-Haq. Shahid Afridi was bagged by the Hyderabad team for $675,000, Misabah-ul-Haq was roped in by Shah Rukh Khan’s Kolkata team for $180,000 and Shoaib Akhtar also wentto the Kolkata team for $400,000.

Younis’ grouse is that Indian and Pak players are more suited to subcontinental pitches and hence should have fetched better prices. Younis Khan had declined to accept Pakistan captaincy.

Pakistan is scheduled to play Australia at home but the series has been mired in controversy after Australian players expressed apprehensions about security measures following political violence in Pakistan in the aftermath of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination.