New Delhi, January 08: Kolkata Knight Riders bought Gautam Gambhir and Yusuf Pathan for a whopping $2.4 million and $ 2.1 million as the player auction for the Season 4 of the Indian Premier League began in Bangalore.
Former King XI Punjab icon player Yuvraj Singh was bought by Sahara Pune Warriors for $1.8 million.
Royal Challengers Bangalore bought Zaheer Khan for USD 900,000 and AB de Villers for $1.1 million while Sri Lankan all-rounder Tillakaratne Dilshan was bagged by Vijay Mallya’s Royal Challengers for $650,000.
Rajasthan Royals bought the services of New Zealand’s Ross Taylor for $1 million while England’s Kevin Pietersen went to Deccan Chargers for $650,000.
At a glance:
In all, 350 players will go under the hammer, down from 416 after the initial list was pruned.
Each franchise will have a purse of $9million to spend during this auction. The first auction held in 2008 had a salary cap of $5 million and the second in 2009 a cap of $2 million.
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During the third auction a maximum signing amount of $750,000 was set, with a secret bid deciding who gets a player if multiple teams bid maximum for the same player.
This year, since the three-year contracts of players signed in the first auction have expired, teams have been allowed to retain up to four players — three Indian and one overseas player.
However, teams which have retained a player will be going into Saturday’s auction with a lesser purse. The first player retained has cost the franchisee $1.8 million, the second 1.3 million, the third $900,000 and the fourth $500,000.
–Agencies