The first part of the second session of day one of the IPL 7 auction was a rather underwhelming one with the IPL teams choosing to sit tight on their constantly dwindling purse. Glenn Maxwell, Corey Anderson and Nathan Coulter-Nile were the big buys, with Anderson, probably, not going at the huge price that everyone was probably expecting.
Below is a summary of how the auction went during the first part of the second session in Bangalore on Wednesday.
Batsmen:
Cameron White was the first player to come out of the bag in the second session of the IPL 7 auction, and went unsold, with fellow Australian Nic Maddinson picked up by the Royal Challengers Bangalore for Rs 50 lakhs.
T20 is the kind of format where the likes of Darren Bravo hold too much weight, unfortunately, and it came as no surprise with auctioneer Richard Madley banging the gavel after receiving no bids.
For Alex Hales, with very little purse remaining for the majority of the teams, the base price of Rs 2 crore proved to be too much, and Hales became yet another player to remain unsold, along with Marlon Samuels, Tamim Iqbal, Martin Guptill, Ian Bell and Lendl Simmons - too little money to play with for the franchises, working to the detriment of these international players.
Saurabh Tiwary, the man that made a major impact in the last big auction at the IPL, went for a rather underwhelming Rs 70 lakhs to the Delhi Daredevils after starting at a base price of Rs 50 lakh. RCB, expectedly, chose not to use their Right to Match card.
S Badrinath was one of the surprise misses, with the right-hander, who has played only for CSK in the IPL, and is someone capable of calming things in the middle, particularly during a crisis, going unsold.
Wicketkeepers:
Tim Paine: No happiness for Paine, with bids during the second session as rare as a sunny morning in London.
Kaushal Silva, Andre Fletcher, Dane Vilas, Denesh Ramdin, Prasanna Jayawardene, Johnson Charles and Luke Ronchi all went unsold.
The lull was broken by the Sunrisers Hyderabad, who bid the base price of Rs 30 lakh for the Zimbabwean Brendan Taylor.
All-rounders:
Andre Russell: The Anderson-effect faced by Russell, and the West Indian went unsold.
Glenn Maxwell: The Australian has been in superb form for both country and club, and the bidding process finally kicked into gear with the Rajasthan Royals kicking things off before taking a backseat as the Delhi Daredevils and the Mumbai Indians, Maxwell's team of last season, kept putting that paddle up time and again. MI looked to have Maxwell signed, sealed and delivered at Rs 4.75 crore, only for Kings XI, who had already made some outstanding buys, to come in and eventually sign the player for Rs 6 crore.
Laxmi Ratan Shukla: DD vs KKR - From Rs 50 lakh all the way to Rs 1.5 crore, three times the base price - Delhi the winners.
Corey Anderson: The big battle commenced with RR and MI, before Delhi came in against Mumbai, with Sunrisers looking to steal it at the end. The Mumbai Indians, though, held firm taking the much-vaunted player for a mere Rs 4.5 crore - a serious anti-climax.
Abhishek Nayar: RR vs SRH - Rs 30 lakh to Rs 1 crore - sold to Rajasthan Royals.
Daniel Christian: No takers for the Aussie, who once went for a huge price in an IPL auction not too long ago.
Ravi Bopara: Calling Bopara an all-rounder is a bit of a stretch, even if the England player has a knack of picking up wickets against India. Not so surprisingly, he was yet another name added to the unsold list.
Luke Wright: No thank you said the eight franchises, and unsold he remained.
Moises Henriques: The Australian did not exactly set the stage on fire during his stint with RCB, but the Sunrisers Hyderabad decided to take a punt with a Rs 1 crore base price bid, which proved to be enough to buy the player, with RCB choosing not to use the Joker card.
Of the second fast bowlers set, RP Singh and Brett Lee went unsold, while Nathan Coulter-Nile went for some big bucks. Good fast bowlers are always at a premium, and after the Rajasthan Royals, with Rahul Dravid lifting that paddle time and again, started the bidding, the Delhi Daredevils, determined, also came in with the price going up from Rs 1 crore to Rs 4.25 crore in the Daredevils' favour.
For Lakshmipathy Balaji, Kings XI, the best buyers of the day, went hammer and tongs with RCB, who had to be very careful of how they spend their money, with their remaining purse looking thinner than a model. Kings XI won it expectedly with Balaji going for Rs 1.8 crore.
Next up was Ashish Nehra, and the former India pacer was never really going to get any takers at a base price of Rs 2 crore, not with the amount of injuries that the left-arm bowler has suffered during his career - or at least that's what one would have thought. Stephen Fleming raised the paddle at the last moment for CSK, with the perennial title favourites buying Nehra for the base price, after Delhi Daredevils rejected the opportunity to match the bid.
Varun Aaron, who is riding a wave of being selected for India, would have been hoped of making a bit of dough, and the opening bid came from the Sunrisers, before RCB rivalled the Hyderabad franchise. The Bangalore side won the bid at Rs 2 crore, with the Daredevils, yet again, choosing not to bring out their joker.
Parwinder Awana went to Kings XI after the Punjab side matched Sunrisers' bid of Rs 65 lakh, while Jaydev Unadkat went to the Delhi Daredevils following furious bidding with the Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab.
Mohit Sharma, after his impressive season with CSK last year, was always going to get a few bids in, with Chennai starting the bidding, and we-will-bid-for-everyone-just-because-we-can Delhi Daredevils also joining in. CSK won the battle, though, with Mohit set to earn Rs 2 crore.
The last fast bowler of the set was Munaf Patel, with the base price Rs 50 lakh, but there was to be no bidders -a serious fall from grace for the bowler that once had pace to burn.
