The auctions this year were much less hyped, compared to last year, thanks to the economic recession, as well as the fact that very few players were available. The biggest stars were obviously the England players as well as JP Duminy - the latest South African sensation.
As expected, Kevin Pietersen was the most expensive, and was bought by the Bangalore Royal Challengers. Now that the Royal Challengers have Utthappa and KP, their batting might just be something to look out for. Along with him, the other most expensive player, Andrew Flintoff has joined the Chennai Super Kings, adding great balance to an already very formidable line-up.
The Rajasthan Royals kept a low profile as expected, they only bought Shaun Tait & the surprise pick of the auction - Middlesex all rounder Tyron Henderson. They obviously needed a fast bowler since Sohail Tanveer wasn't available, and Tait seems an apt enough replacement. Tyron Henderson was a bit of surprise since he has no international experience, but his domestic Twenty20 career record speaks for itself, and he should be a handy player to have.
The Deccan Chargers, after having finished bottom last year, decided not to be very flashy and instead picked up West Indian fast bowler Fidel Edwards along with his international tem mate Dwayne Smith. Now Edwards has good speed and should do well, while Dwayne Smith is a very aggressive batsman and a decent bowler, so both of the Chargers' picks seem to be good.
The Mumbai Indians made a very smart pick by buying JP Duminy. Duminy has been in very good form and seems to be a very good player. He also seems to have a good cricketing brain, for he has been able to adapt to various situations perfectly well. The difference in his batting style in the ODIs in Australia proved this. When his team was in trouble in the first match, he dropped anchor and pulled the team out of trouble, while in the last match, when South Africa needed quick runs, he was able to find the boundaries with ease. Duminy is a very exciting prospect and Mumbai would definitely not regret buying him. The other player they have purchased is Kyle Mills, nothing much to say about this guy, he's just a run-of-the-mill player.
It looked like the Kolkata Knight Riders would not be buying anyone, but towards the end they picked up the Bangladeshi fast bowler Mashrafe Mortaza for a whopping $600,000 - thats 1100% greater than his base price of $50,000! How useful this proves to be remains to be seen. However, the Knight Riders will also get a chance to bid again later for 4 players, since they had 4 Pakistani players in their squad. Maybe then they could go in for a few more players.
Delhi Daredevils had made a few changes to their squad before the auction itself. They had swapped Shikhar Dhawan for Ashish Nehra, and also bought the Aussie David Warner. He is a clean striker of the ball, as he showed against the Springboks in the one-off twenty20 game and should be a success at the IPL. During the auction, the Daredevils picked up Owais Shah & Paul Collingwood, both of whom would add great value to the side. The Kings XI Punjab also made a good buy by snapping up Ravindra Bopara, another good prospect.
Surprisingly, players like Stuart Clark, Brad Haddin, Andre Nel, Ashwell Prince, James Franklin & Shakib-ul-Hasan couldn't find any buyers. Shakib-ul-Hasan would have been a great pick given the form that he is in, same with Haddin. Maybe they will be picked up later; I , for one, would love to see Clark bowling in the IPL.
So now that the auction's over, I'm looking ahead to another season of IPL. I might not be one of it's greatest supporters, but I must say, it has brought in a lot of excitement and entertainment. And of course, the chance to see the great Shane Warne in action again.
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The round for Mashrafe Mortaza's auction was shown on many news channels. Even Knightriders seemed shocked at their bid at first when Preity's team backed off suddenly and they were the highest bidders. I seriously doubt his worth for KKR. Shocker of this round for me.
Mumbai made a smart call by signing Kyle Mills with Nehra, Bravo and Pollock gone. I hope Nel remains available for the entire season. Zaheer will be a huge bonus for them and will play key role in their performance. I am just curious about their wicket keeping situation with Thornely off.
I think Dehli shouldn't have bought both Collingwood and Shah to add to their already strong batting lineup. They need a better pace bowling lineup. McGrath was quite ineffective last time. Asif is out. I feel they should have gone for someone like Shaun Tait instead.
Other bids were ok I believe. KP and Freddie will be added attractions for this season. I am definitely going to watch MI vs CSK and MI vs BRC this year. Any idea about stadium for MI this year. Is it Wankhede or DY Patil?
Mortaza was the real shocker for me. Stuart Clark or Shakib Al-Hasan would have been better picks any day.
As for the Royals, I think they have done some shrewd business in getting Henderson. He has lot of T20 experience and keeps a calm head, especially in pressure situations (he bowled the last over for Middlesex in the English T20 final I believe). Tait is a bit hit & miss, but they do have enough cover even with Tanveer missing with Munaf Patel and Morne Morkel.
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