Flintoff, Pietersen emerge as world's most expensive players

S S Ramaswamy

Panaji, Feb 6 (PTI) Star England cricket players Kevin
Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff Friday emerged as the world's most expensive cricketers after being sold for a whopping USD 1.55 million (approx Rs 7.35 cr) in the Indian Premier League auction, surpassing Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni who had fetched Rs six crore in the inaugural edition.

In an auction, it was Pietersen and Flintoff -- both
former England captains -- who were expectedly the most sought
after exceeding their base prices by huge margins.

The hard-hitting Pietersen was bought by Bangalore Royal
Challengers while Flintoff went to Chennai Super Kings at the
auction, which had its share of glamour with Bollywood stars
Preity Zinta, Shilpa Shetty and Juhi Chawla in attendance.

Bangalore Royal Challengers spent most of their total
amount of USD 1.95 million on the highly talented Pietersen
who had a base price of USD 1.35 million.

Flintoff, another former England captain, expectedly got
a good bidding and will now feature in the same team as Dhoni
who is the captain of Chennai Super Kings.

Flintoff and Pietersen, like all other English players,
will be available for just 21 days for the second edition of
the high-profile Twenty20 league although their contracts are
for two years.

Upcoming South African batsman Jean Paul Duminy (USD
950,00), Bangladesh paceman Mashrafe Mortaza (USD 600,00),
unheralded South African all-rounder Tyron Henderson (USD
650,000) triggered surprise bidding wars among the eight
franchisees.

The likes of Duminy and Mortaza made a killing at the
auction far exceeding their base prices.

In contrast, the Australians, struggling to hold on to
their cricketing supremacy for the past few months, were a big
flop with several of their players like pacer Stuart Clark,
wicketkeeper Brad Haddin and another fast bowler Ashley Noffke
failing to attract any bids.

Among other players first to be auctioned, Australia's
Shuan Tait was purchased by title holders of the inaugural
edition Rajasthan Royals for USD 375,000 while upcoming South
African batsman Jean Paul Duminy went to Mumbai Indians for
USD 950,000.

The biggest surprise was bidding war over Bangladesh
Mortaza, who despite a very modest base price of USD 50,000,
was picked up for USD 600,000 by Kolkata Knight Riders.

The pacer was also sought by Kings XI Punjab which was
engaged in the bidding war for almost half an hour.

Among the bargain buys, West Indian paceman Fidel Edwards
was went for his base price of USD 150,000 to Deccan Chargers.
England's Owais Shah and Paul Collingwood were bought by Delhi
Daredevils for USD 275,000 each.

At the end of the auction, IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi
told reporters that the price paid for Mortaza was a big
surprise but he was very happy for the Bangladesh player.

"We were all very surprised, but I'm happy. Mortaza is a
talented bowler," he said after the conclusion of the auction.

In all five Englishmen, three West Indians, two each from
South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Bangladesh, besides
one from Sri Lanka were bought by the eight franchise teams
out of a 49-strong pool.

"The auction is over. Unspent money by the franchises at
the auction becomes zero now. Some teams still have slots for
replacements, Kolkata, Bangalore, Rajasthan Royals and Deccan
Chargers.

"They will have to purchase from the lot of 115 players
in the list minus the 17 who have been bought. If two teams
are interested in the same player they will have to
negotiate," Modi said.

Owner of Bangalore Royal Challengers Vijay Mallya said he
was always keen to get the services of Pietersen as he would
add value to the team.

"I was always keen to get Pietersen. He would be a superb
addition to the team. We had a list of players before the
auction and KP topped that list. We needed to strengthen our
batting and I was prepared to pay more for him," Mallya said.

"It is a worthwhile investment and ensure the balance
that we wanted in our team", he said.

Henderson was bought by Rajasthan Royals for USD 650,000
(appr Rs 3.18 crore), a massive jump from his base price of
USD 100,000.

England all-rounder Ravi Bopara was bought by Kings XI
Punjab for USD 450,000 (appr Rs 2.20 crore), far beyond his
base price of USD 150,000.

"We all had our objective and budget. We had alternatives
in place. I was talking to Tom (Moody, the coach) and
(captain) Yuvraj Singh who were involved in all the decisions
taken," Kings XI co-owner Ness Wadia told reporters after the
auction.


"We are looking forward to England players to play this
time. There are lot of fans for England cricketers in this
country," he said.

On whether the boutgh Australians would be available for
the entire season, Modi was non-committal and said, "We are
working on it (the Aussie players' availability for a large
part of the IPL season)."

Australia are scheduled to play Pakistan in a Test and
ODI series during the same period at a neutral venue like
Dubai.

N Srinivasan, MD of India Cements which owns the Chennai
Super Kings franchise and is also the Cricket Board's
secretary, was also very pleased with his team's purchase of
Flintoff even though he, like Pietersen, would be available
to play in the April-May IPL for only three weeks.

"He's an outstanding all-rounder. We targetted Flintoff
to improve our balance," Srinivasan said. PTI SSR