Today must go down as the day of the IPL auction at Mumbai. Mahendra Singh Dhoni was by far the biggest catch. Chennai Super Kings paying $ 1.5 million for him. Here are some of the others.
| MS Dhoni | Chennai | 1.5 million |
| Adam Gilchrist | Hyderabad | 700,000 |
| Muttiah Muralitharan | Chennai | 600,000 |
| Mahela Jayawardene | Mohali | 475,000 |
| Shane Warne | Jaipur | 450,000 |
| Shoaib Akhtar | Kolkata | 425,000 |
| Anil Kumble | Bangalore | 500,000 |
| Harbhajan Singh | Mumbai | 850,000 |
| Sanath Jayasuriya | Mumbai | 975,000 |
| Kumar Sangakkara | Mohali | 700,000 |
Andrew Symonds is the highest paid overseas cricketer @ $ 1.35 million. The squads so far make interesting reading.
Ponting must be sore that he could get only $ 400,000 while Brett Lee gets $ 900,000. Mathew Hayden gets even less at $ 375,000.
Things will hot up as the days go by. As always, people see things in different perspectives. Micheal Clarke’s staying away from the IPL has been headlined that he put family and Australia duties ahead of the IPL ( the other Aussies don’t?). The Australian tour of Pakistan clashes with the IPL dates ( which may explain why some in Australia are reluctant to tour Pakistan citing security threats).
The timing of this auction comes at an interesting stage in the ongoing Commonwealth Bank ODIs between Australia, India and Sri Lanka. Yuvraj, captain of Mohali has Bret Lee, Sangakkara and Jayawardane under him ! Murali is to play under Dhoni for Chennai.!
All in all, much to watch out for before the IPL tournament gets off with Bangalore playing Kolkatta in the first match at Bangalore on April 18. The schedule is here.
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