The words surprised and shocked sound as cliched as Ravi Shastri's commentary, if one tries to use them to describe the IPL Auctions. The team owners left no stones unturned as it looked like they had done their homework to perfection. Be it Vijay Mallya, who was adamant about picking the Daredevils, or be it Shah Rukh Khan's KKR who were desperate to look out for players who could change the franchise's fortunes - each side tried to outwit the other in every possible way.
When the 'Beauty' deserted her 'Brains'
Retaining the first player - $1.8 Million; retaining the second player - $1.3 million; retaining the third player - $9,00,000; not retaining any player, but still being willing to bid high for them, only to watch other teams outbid you - Priceless.
The not-so-pretty expression on Preity Zinta's face said it all, with the rather bemusing tactics of the Kings XI Punjab shown up, when they did not retain any of their players, but yet went aggressively - but unsuccessfully - after their big names.
Business is Everything. Ganguly - who's he? Lara - what's that?
Gracefully opting out of the auctions was Anil Kumble's way of looking at what the future has in store for the retired cricketers. Day 1 of the IPL auctions also witnessed the death of the word 'respect' and burial of the word 'belief' as the owners opted not to buy legends Sourav Ganguly and Brian Charles Lara. It was not just that - India's premier technician Rahul Dravid wasn't even on the 'hit-list' of his home team, the Royal Challengers, and neither did the Deccan Chargers bid for VVS Laxman.
The 'Monkeys' and the 'Maa-kis' meet
Stop the press, call the police and tell them that they've got a job in hand. In January 2008, the duo were involved in cricket's ugliest controversy with Symonds accusing Bhajji of calling him a 'monkey' and Bhajji retaliating telling the world that all he muttered was a famous gaali in Hindi. Well, back to the future now, the duo will feature in the same team for the 4th edition of the IPL. Mrs. Nita Ambani, good luck on that.
The Gayle storm that died down midway
The destructive left hander from the Carribean, who can win matches single handedly wasn't picked by any of the ten franchises. Fitness, attitude and availability are the only three reasons that I could think of for him to be ignored during the auctions. It would be interesting to see what he has to tell about this on his twitter page.
'Money never sleeps', say the Indian cricketers
Money here, money there, there was money everywhere. Gautam Gambhir and Yusuf Pathan being sold for USD 2.4m and 2.1m wasn't quite a surprise, but Robin Uthappa, Rohit Sharma and Irfan Pathan going out for USD 2.1m, 2m and 1.9m respectively did raise a few eyebrows.
How can the list be complete without a mention of the Indian fans' anti-superhero - Ravindra Jadeja? After being banned from playing the IPL in 2010, Jadeja more than made up for the money he lost as a result of the ban, walking away with a staggering USD 950,000 courtesy team Kochi.
Players love comebacks, even if it's just at the Auctions
We can call them the tailenders of the IPL Auctions, the franchises were interested in a few unsold players and they were brought under the hammer yet again. Jessy Ryder was bagged by Pune, Jonathan Vandiar was picked up by Bangalore, Dimitri Mascarehnas headed the Punjab way. Not that the final round was without its share of surprises: Loots Bosman and Jamie How, known for their T20 power hitting abilities, went unsold, while Mohammad Kaif, finally found a home in the Royal Challengers after being auctioned for the third time on the same day.
The shocker - Sourav Ganguly wasn't given a second change, and neither was Gayle. Time for them to say 'Bye bye, IPL.'
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