The afternoon session of the IPL 7 auction opening day proved to be a bit of a damp squib, with all of the IPL franchises choosing to keep their money firmly in their grasp, with an eye on the uncapped players that will come under the hammer on Thursday.
Below is a summary of how the session panned out.
Spinners:
West Indian Sulieman Benn, and Rangana Herath were not bid for right at the top, before Samuel Badree went to the Chennai Super Kings for the base price of Rs 30 lakh. The West Indies spinner can bowl the opening overs and could prove useful for MS Dhoni and co.
South Africa's Imran Tahir was never going to be picked at Rs 1 crore, and that remained the case, while Nathan Lyon, the Ashes hero, Suraj Randiv, the Sri Lankan off-spinner, Ramesh Powar, the Mumbai veteran all went unsold.
Brad Hogg, the oldest player at the auction, and the wrist spinner who was selected in the Australia squad for the World T20 also found no takers at the base price of Rs 1.5 crore, while Akhila Dhananjaya might as well have not come out of the bag - because he was never going to be bid for.
Batsmen:
Experienced South African Neil McKenzie, Australian Chris Lynn, former South African opener Herschelle Gibbs, Ben Rohrer, Farhaan Behardien, Henry Davids, Adam Voges, Upul Tharanga, Hamish Rutherford all went unsold as it became clear the teams were waiting to bid for primarily India players.
Venugopal Rao, the former India player, was the first to be bid for in this batsmen set, with the Sunrisers getting their man for Rs 55 lakhs, after seeing off competition from RCB.
Abhinav Mukund, who has opened in Test matches for India, however, could not entice a bid from any of the franchise, with the set bringing about a bid for just one player.
All-rounders:
The pattern of not bidding for too many foreign players continued, with Johan Botha and James Franklin going unsold, before James Neesham brought out that paddle into play between the Delhi Daredevils and CSK. Delhi won the battle with the New Zealand all-rounder going to the Daredevils for Rs 1 crore.
Mystery spinner Sachitra Senanayake, Australians Andrew McDonald and John Hastings, South African utility man Roelof Van Der Merwe did not receive any bids, with Jesse Ryder also failing to break the we-don't-want-too-many-foreigners-anymore mould.
Fast bowlers:
Fidel Edwards started off the fast bowlers set without receiving a bid, before Ben Cutting was bid for by the Rajasthan Royals and the Mumbai Indians - the Royals walking away with the Australian for Rs 80 lakh.
Manpreet Gony, who made a name for himself ages ago in the first season of the IPL was a we-don't-want-him man, with the Royals, having already gotten Cutting, making a move for compatriot Kane Richardson for Rs 1 crore.
Ben Hilfenhaus used to be an Australian regular, and CSK, knowing the bowler's prowess when on song, bid the base price of Rs 1 crore to bring him back to their team.
Joginder Sharma will always be remembered for bowling that unforgettable final over in the 2007 World T20 final against Pakistan for India, but unfortunately for the bowler, that glory can only be carried for so long, with no bids coming forth.
Clint McKay, surprisingly, went unsold, while CSK, determined to get as many of their former players as possible, bidding for Jason Holder. The Sunrisers, though, put a wrench in their works, outbidding Chennai for the West Indian for a final price of Rs 75 lakh.
Tim Southee was one of the few players during the second session that went for over Rs 1 crore, with the Royals outbidding CSK for the New Zealand pacer with an offer of Rs 1.2 crore. Josh Hazlewood went to the Mumbai Indians for Rs 50 lakh as the set of fast bowlers came to an end.
Spinners:
They might as well have skipped with this set of spinners with the likes of Devendra Bishoo, Ashley Nurse, Fawad Ahmed, Nikita Miller, Nicky Boje, James Muirhead and Shohag Gazi all going unsold.
It was all about keeping enough money available for the uncapped Indian players now, with several young local players set to vie for some big bucks on the second day of the auction.
Final section of day one:
Richard Levi, Colin Munro, Lahiru Thirimanne, Phillip Hughes, Vaughan Van Jaarsveld, Dean Elgar, Travis Birt, Kieran Powell, Luke Pomersbach and Neil Broom were all overlooked in the batsmen set, with Samit Patel, Vernon Philander, the man that tormented India in the recent series in South Africa, Jacob Oram, Christopher Barnwell, Farveez Maharoof, Dimitri Mascarenhas, David Wiese, and Jeevan Mendis all given the cold shoulder from the all-rounders set.
From the final fast bowlers set for the day, Doug Bollinger, Pat Cummins, Jackson Bird, Pankaj Singh, Ryan McLaren, who should really have been in the all-rounders set, Dirk Nannes, A Mithun, Adam Milne, Shaun Tait and Wayne Parnell were all passed.
The fifth set of batsmen saw Mohammed Kaif, the 2001 Natwest Series hero, Chamara Kapugedera, Adrian Barath, Robert Quiney, Hemang Badani, Jehan Mubarak, Justin Ontong, Wasim Jaffer, Dilshan Munaweera and Callum Ferguson go unsold, with the same result for Dilruwan Perera, Mohammad Mahmudullah, Grant Elliott, Rayad Emrit, Elton Chigumbura, Gary Mathurin, Angelo Perera, Danza Hyatt and Rikki Clarke from the all-rounders set.
Lonwabo Tsotsobe, VRV Singh, Krishmar Santokie, Sudeep Tyagi, Kemar Roach, Marchant De Lange, Mitchell McClenaghan and Ben Laughlin were overlooked, before Matt Henry was bought by CSK.
Tino Best, Jade Dernbach, Sheldon Cottrell, Jerome Taylor, Kyle Mills, Juan Theron, Nuwan Kulasekara and Simon Jones were not so luck, though, with no bids forthcoming, with the final set of the day's auction - of fast bowlers - also not finding any buyers - Shaminda Eranga, Hamish Bennett, Ian Butler, Rory Kleinveldt, Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal, Aavishkar Salvi, Isuru Udana unable to persuade any team to bid for them.
The unsold players will be given an opportunity to be bid for tomorrow, with the IPL franchises set to choose the players who will be put up for auction again.
