IPL: India Inc splurges over Rs 37 cr on 17 players

It’s back. Bigger and even more bountiful. The heady cocktail of cricket, big money and glamour that made the Indian Premier League such a huge hit in its inaugural season resumed on Friday with an auction that relegated last year’s eye-popping figures to instant history.

The general economic outlook may be none too bright, but IPL pay packages are still surging like a team’s score during a frenzied powerplay.

The big question when the action kicked off was whether M S Dhoni’s record fee of $1.5 million would survive the day. It didn’t last even a few hours.

England’s Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff both clocked $1.55 million, surpassing Dhoni to be the costliest players of the tournament.

Pietersen had a reserve price of $1.35 million and Team Bangalore had made no bones about their determination to get him.

For a while, Vijay Mallya encountered competition from Team Mumbai and Team Mohali. But they soon backed out. Mallya later said he would have bid even more if required, not surprising when one considers that his team last year was mocked for having an excellent batting line-up—for Tests.

Flintoff, with a base price of $950,000, too proved to be hot property with teams desperate for his all-round skills. Mumbai , Mohali and Chennai fought a pitched battle for him, with bids often increasing by $25,000 at one go. Chennai finally bagged him for $1.55 million.

Team Mumbai made the third most expensive acquisition of the day, forking out $950,000 for 24-year-old Jean Paul Duminy, who made such a huge impact during South Africa’s recent triumphs over Australia.

Duminy began with a base price of $300,000 but with Team Mohali, Team Kolkata and Team Jaipur all pitching for him, he finally cost Team Mumbai almost thrice that figure.

Mumbai also picked up Bangladesh skipper Mohd Ashraful for $75,000 after he initially failed to find any takers.

Others weren’t so lucky, with many of the players listed for auction remaining unsold. Clearly, while the franchisees didn’t mind spending top dollar for players crucial to their plans, they were very choosy about whom they spent their money on. Still, there were quite a few surprises.