Fourteen players were auctioned in the second and final round of bidding for the DLF IPL Twenty20 tournament beginning on April 18, with Australian James Hopes bagging the highest bid of $300,000 from Mohali franchaise owned by Bollywood’s Preity Zinta and friend Ness Wadia.

Dimitri Masceranhas became the first England player to bag an IPL contract, being bagged by Jaipur for $100,000.

Dimitri Masceranhas , however, does not have an England and Wales Cricket Board, contract.

In the first auction in Mumbai’s Hilton, 75 international stars were contracted by various IPL teams.

Misabah-Ul-Haq, who was earlier reported to be with Kolkata IPL promoted by Shah Rukh Khan, has been bagged by Vijay Mallya’s Bangalore IPL team Royal Challengers for $125,000. Pakistan players Salman Butt and Mohammad Hafeez were both bought for Rs 40 lakhs each

Bangalore Royal Challengers, owned by Vijay Mallya, also bought Bangladesh’s left-arm spinner Abdur Razzaq for Rs 20 lakhs ($ 50,000) and Kiwi batsman Ross Taylor for Rs 40 lakhs ($ 100,000). Virat Kohli, the captain of the victorious under-19 Indian team was also taken by Bangalore for Rs 20 lakhs.

The second auction’s highest price of $300,00o is in sharp contrast to the first auction where Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni went for $1.5 million from the Chennai IPL team promoted by India Cements.

Andrew Symonds was second with a $1.3 million bid from Deccan Chronicle, which promotes the Hyderabad IPL team.

Pakistan’s premier batsman Mohammad Yousuf was not contracted by any teams, though he will be paid a retainer fee by the BCCI.

Australian Shaun Tait was not considered eligible for the auction as the player’s offer came late.

Extra from CNN-IBN:

Jaipur, which was fined for not spending the prescribed minimum amount in the first auction, bought all-rounders Shane Watson (Australia) for Rs 50 lakhs, Morne Morkel (South Africa) for Rs 24 lakhs, Dmitry Mascarenhas (England) for Rs 40 lakhs, Pakistani seam bowler Sohail Tanveer for Rs 40 lakhs and a couple of Indian U-19 players in Taruwar Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja.

Auction details

Dmitri Mascarenhas (England) – $100,000 – Jaipur
Shane Watson (Australia) – $125,000 – Jaipur
Sohail Tanvir (Pakistan) – $100,000 – Jaipur
Morne Morkel (South Africa) – $60,000 – Jaipur
James Hopes (Australia) – $300,000 – Mohali
Kyle Mills (New Zealand) – $150,000 – Mohali
Luke Pomersbach (Australia) – $50,000 – Mohali
Misbah-ul Haq (Pakistan) – $125,000 – Bangalore
Ross Taylor (New Zealand) – $100,000 – Bangalore
Abdur Razzak (Bangladesh) – $50,000 – Bangalore
Salman Butt (Pakistan) – $100,000 – Kolkata
Mohd. Hafeez (Pakistan) – $100,000 – Kolkata
Ashwell Prince (South Africa)- $175,000 – Mumbai
Brett Geeves (Australia) – $50,000 – Delhi

Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta have reportedly working been on theme song music videos for their respective IPL teams.

SRK has reportedly signed up choreographer Ganesh Hegde to do a music video for his Kolkata IPL team. Shah Rukh Khan may even act in the video, sources said.

Om Shanti Om music directors Vishal-Shekhar will compose the music for Kolkata IPL’s team song. The team is tight-lipped about the details as Shah Rukh Doesn’t want any other team to do similar things.

The Kolkata IPL teams have international stars, such as India’s former captain Sourav Ganguly, Ricky Ponting, Shoaib Akhtar, Chris Gayle and Misbah Ul Haq.
But Mohali IPL’s Preity Zinta is also doing a similar act. Priety Zinta has apparently signed up the music director duo of Sajid-Wajid to shoot the theme song for her Mohali IPL team. Daler Mehndi has also been roped in to add fizz. The Mohali IPL team is not as star-studded as the Kolkata team – but it has match winners for sure, such as Yuvraj Singh, Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Brett Lee.

IPL’s Kolkata team , owned by Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan, has reportedly signed up star Pakistan batsman Misbah-ul-Haq.The Pakistan Cricket Board has also cleared Misbah-ul-Haq’s IPL stint.

Reports said Misbah-ul-Haq has signed up for $1,80,000 (72,50,400) Indian rupees) by the Kolkata IPL team.

The Kolkata IPL team’s icon player is Sourav Ganguly. John Buchanan is the coach and Ricky Ponting has also been roped in by the Kolkata IPL team.

Some players of the Kolkata IPL team are reportedly unavailable in May due to their commitments to national sides and it was due to this that Kolkata team had to rope in Misbah-ul-Haq. Misabah-ul-Haq’s Pakistan team mates Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malikm Mohammad Asif, Pak speedster Shoaib Akhtar, Younis Khan, Umar Gul, Kamran Akmal and Mohammed Hafeez have also signed up for IPL.