Yuvraj Singh and Dinesh Karthik were the biggest buys at the 2014 Indian Premier League auctions, with both Indian cricketers attracting 10-crore plus sums. While the Royal Challengers Bangalore snapped up the struggling Yuvraj for a staggering Rs. 14 crore, Dinesh Karthik went to the Delhi Daredevils for Rs. 12.5 crore.
Among overseas stars, Kevin Pietersen (Rs. 9 crore by Delhi) and Mitchell Johnson (Rs. 6.5 crore to Kings XI Punjab) were the only other players whose valuations exceeded a million U.S. dollars, while the lone million dollar boy from 2013, Glenn Maxwell, just about matched that valuation with Rs. 10 crore, also by Punjab.
New Zealand star allrounder Corey Anderson, who holds for the record fastest ODI hundred, drew a handsome price of Rs. 4.5 crore from Mumbai.
Players from Sri Lanka and England, who will play a series in May, did not attract any bids. The sole exception was Sri Lanka allrounder Thisara Perera, who was bought by Kings XI for Rs 1.6 crores. Sri Lankan stars like Mahela Jayawardene and Tillakaratne Dilshan remained unsold.
Three struggling India players – Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma – nearly didn’t find any takers before belated bids saw them being sold marginally above their base prices. Sehwag (Rs. 3.5 crore) went to Punjab, Zaheer (Rs. 2.6 crore) to his former team Mumbai while Ishant (Rs. 2.6 crore) was retained by Sunrisers Hyderabad.
