LIVE – IPL auction
Mumbai Indians bought South African sensation JP Duminy for USD 950,000. His base price was initially set at USD 300,000.

Shaun Tait went to the Rajasthan Royals for USD 375,000.

But it was the two Englishmen attracted the most attention as well as the highest bids.

Franchises bid fervently for Andrew Flintoff before Chennai Super Kings finally acquired him USD 1.55 million.

As expected, Bangalore Royal Challengers left no stone unturned as they acquired former England captain Kevin Pietersen for USD 1.55 million.

“I think its a very worthwhile investment,” said Vijay Mallya, owner of the Bangalore franchise, about his latest acquisition. Mallya said he was ready to dish out a bigger sum to sign on Pietersen.

Fidel Edwards was sold to Deccan Chargers for his base price of USD 150,000.

Chamara Kapugedera found no bidders and remains unsold. He will be up for consideration at the end of the auction. Australian wicket keeper Brad Haddin and Stuart Clark remained unsold as well.

Owais Shah, who was part of Middlesex’s victorious campaign last year, found himself being fought over by Kolkata and Delhi before Bangalore joined the fight. But Delhi were certain they wanted the English batsman and outbid Bangalore to acquire him for USD 275,000.

Paul Collingwood, the English all-rounder, was also acquired by Delhi for USD 275,000.

Tyron Henderson, the big-hitting South African all-rounder who also played for Middlesex last year, was the surprise package. His base price was set at USD 100,000 but was sold at USD 650,000 as Rajasthan and Deccan Chargers fought fiercely to outbid one another before Deccan Chargers finally bowed out.

Phil Jacques, the Australian opener with a base price of USD 100, 000, remained unsold.

Ashwell Prince (USD 150,000), Andre Nel (USD 120,000) found no takers either.

Both Bangalore and Chennai fought for English all-rounder Ravi Bopara (base price: USD 150,000) until Punjab joined the race at USD 400, 000 and eventually acquired him for USD 450,000.

Luke Wright (USD 100,000), another England all-rounder, didn’t attract any bids. Neither did Sri Lanka paceman Nuwan Kulasekara (USD 100,000).

Another Sri Lankan Thilan Thushara was about to be sold for his base price of USD 120,000 before Kolkata expressed their interest and joined Chennai in the race but Chennai eventually got him for USD 140, 000.

The auctioneer mistakenly declared NZ opener Jesse Ryder (USD 100,000) unsold before realizing that Bangalore had bid for him. As it turned out, there were more than a few parties interested before he went to Bangalore for USD 160,000.

Kyle Mills, the Kiwi all-rounder, was bought for his base price of USD 150,000 by the Mumbai Indians.

Samit Patel (USD 100,000), the England all-rounder, Bangladeshi Sakib-Al-Hasan (USD 75,000), South African wicket keeper Morne van Wyk (USD 100,000), Jerome Taylor (USD 150,000), Steven Smith of NSW (USD 75,000), Ashley Noffke (USD 100,000) found no takers.

West Indian Dwayne Smith was brought for his base price of USD 100,000 by the Deccan Chargers.

South African Ghulam Bodi (USD 100,000), Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful (USD 75,000), West Indian Darren Powell (USD 150,000) remained unsold as well.

There were no bids for Tamim Iqbal (USD 50,000), Victorian all-rounder Jonathan Moss (USD 50,000), leg-spinner Bryce McGain (USD 50,000), Kiwi all-rounder James Franklin (USD 50,000), Victorian Adrian Blizzard (USD 75,000), Ramnaresh Sarwan (USD 100,000), Michael Klinger (USD 75,000), Kaushalya Weeraratne (USD 50,000), Prasanna Jayawardene (USD 50,000) and Dominic Thornley (USD 50,000).

Mashrafe Mortaza (USD 50,000) became the first Bangladeshi to evoke any interest from the franchises as Punjab and Kolkata fought vigorously for him. Kolkata had bought no one at the auction yet and were desperate for a fast bowler after losing Shoaib Akhtar and Umar Gul. There were discussions among the franchises before they decided to raise the bid every time. The process sped up towards the end as the auctioneer virtually ran out of breath. As the bids went up to USD 500,000 the crowd broke into an applause but neither franchise had given up. After close to twenty minutes of intense bidding, he was finally sold to Kolkata for twelve times his base price, USD 600,000.

South African Yusuf Abdullah (USD 25,000), South African Daniel Harris (USD 50,000), Kemar Roach (USD 50,000), Aaron Bird (USD 45,000), Michael Dighton (USD 50,000), Michael Hill (USD 50,000) and Brett Geeves (USD 45,000) didn’t attract any bids.

Tasmanian batsman George Bailey was sold to Chennai for his base price of USD 50,000.

All contracts have been awarded on 2-year basis.

More to follow..

New Delhi: Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly is all set to make the cut for the Indian Test side for the first two Tests against Australia. But there may be a rider – it can be his last series, according to sources.

Ganguly had been left out of the Rest of India squad for the Irani Cup by the previous selection panel led by Dilip Vengsarkar, which was interpreted by many as end of Ganguly’s international career. However, the new selection committee under chairman Krish Srikkanth, in all likelihood, will decide to give the former skipper one last go to retire gracefully.

The committee began its first formal meeting in Mumbai from 12 pm on Wednesday, to select the squad for first two Tests against Australia to be held in Bangalore and Mohali. Sources have confirmed to CNN-IBN, that Ganguly will be in the side and will be picked for the entire series of four matches.

The move will be the first step to be part of the BCCI’s plan to give the senior players an honourable exit from international cricket.

Earlier, former selector V Raju, in response to the BCCI plan to retire the seniors gracefully, had said: It (the retirement) was entirely up to the senior players. They have been playing day in and day out. They should realise when is the time to go.”

From Ganguly’s point of view, those are ominous words but as always, things aren’t in black and white in Indian cricket.

Some sections in the BCCI want one of India’s greatest ever captains to be given an “honourable exit.”

And then there is the weight of these numbers — over the last year, Ganguly has made over 1000 runs in Test cricket at an impressive average of nearly 45, which is above his career average while another former captain Rahul Dravid has stumbled to just over 750 runs at under 35, well below his career average.

So Ganguly’s supporters could argue that his failures in Sri Lanka were an aberration and the men who have been spoken of as replacements haven’t really pushed hard for a place. The boss of the new selection committee knows backing the right horse is their biggest challenge.

So, the former India captain may make one last comeback to the Indian Test side but the move may be the first step to be part of the BCCI’s plan to give the senior players an honourable exit as sources add that he might be asked to announce his retirement soon after the series.

“Sometimes, three men are equally good but you can pick only one. So, which one to pick becomes a difficult decision,” said Srikkanth, the new chief selector.

India have included Sourav Ganguly in a 15-man squad for the first two Tests against Australia. There were also call-ups for Tamil Nadu batsman S Badrinath and legspinner Amit Mishra, who played three one-day internationals in 2003.