The world's top cricket players are up for grabs yet again. The unfolding of the fourth season of the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) through the much-awaited auctions scheduled to be held on January 8 and 9 in Bangalore are set for the high drama IPL has always promised its viewers. With 350 leading sportsmen vying to be caught and bowled, the "drama" is expected to reach a new high this year.
While eight teams have around $9 million each at their disposal for the auction. Chennai Superkings and Mumbai Indians, who have retained four players each, are to go into the auction with $4.5 million. Though there were some 421 cricketers who had expressed interest to participate in the auction, only 350 players have been shortlisted.
A senior official with the Kolkata Knight Riders team who did not want to be identified as he was not authorised to speak to the media said, "Only two teams have retained some players. This IPL will have brand new teams with all 10 teams sporting brand new players."
He added that in the earlier list, 21 players including former West Indies batsman Brian Lara were bracketed for a prize money of $400,000. "There was some talk that VVS Laxman, who had a good season last year, has also had his base price placed near the $300,000 mark. Around 80 players named in the top three price bands of the preliminary list have retained their place in the final list," he said.
Sources indicated that the defending champions Chennai Superkings have retained MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina, while the Mumbai Indians has decided to hold on to Sachin Tendulkar and Harbhajan Singh among its Indian players. Rajasthan Royals has also held on to Shane Warne and Shane Watson, but this could not be ascertained.
The new list of participants has been given to all the 10 IPL franchise. An official from the Royal Challengers Bangalore added that the board had not yet taken a call on the participation of Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab after being in a long legal battle regarding their franchises "but would adhere to the court order on the same."
Sources indicate that it was most likely that the fate of the two teams would be known by January 12, when the governing council of the IPL meets in Mumbai.
Despite the controversy regarding Anil Kumble's resignation, several established Indian IPL performers including Gautam Gambhir, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra and Yuvraj Singh are set to go under the hammer.
Source: www.tehelka.com
More related News:
