How did the player auctions pan out?
India’s ODI captain Dhoni and Australia allrounder Andrew Symonds were the big buys at the first auction in Mumbai, with the Chennai franchise buying Dhoni for $1.5 million and Hyderabad bidding successfully for Symonds at $1.3 million. India’s young stars Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma and Manoj Tiwary together fetched nearly $3 million. The auction for the second season was on a much smaller scale, with 17 players bought by the various franchises. Pietersen and Flintoff were the most popular buys, and among the relatively newer faces, JP Duminy was snapped up for $950,000 by Mumbai Indians, and Tyron Henderson by Rajasthan Royals for $650,000. The surprise package was Mashrafe Mortaza, who was bought for a whopping $600,000 by Kolkata Knight Riders. Pollard and Bond fetched the upper limit of $ 750,000 in the third auction, while Kemar Roach and Wayne Parnell also went for high amounts.
