Three IPL Teams To Gain From IPL 3 auction

The newly opened Trident at the Bandra-Kurla Complex played host to the third round of player auctions for the Indian Premier League.

The eight franchisees were given a fresh purse of $750,000 each to select one or two players from among the 51 for auction. This was in sharp contrast to IPL 2 where each had $2 million to pick up two players. All in all, estimates are that over Rs 150 crore was spent on the deals.

West Indian all-rounder Kieron Pollard and New Zealand's Shane Bond bagged the highest bids when they hit the upper limit of $750,000.

Sources say Mumbai Indians bought Pollard for $2.75 million while Kolkata Knight Riders got Bond into their team for $1.3 million. Both players will pocket $750,000 each, with the rest going to the IPL kitty. A tie-breaker was used twice during the auction for Pollard and Bond.

Kemar Roach, another West Indian player, was secured by Deccan Chargers Hyderabad for $720,000 while South African Wayne Parnel was snapped up by Delhi Daredevils for $610,000. Mohammed Kaif, who formerly played for Rajasthan Royals, went to Kings XI Punjab for $250,000 in the second round of bidding.

Royal Challengers Bangalore bought Eoin Morgan of England for $220,000 while veteran Australian cricketer Damien Martyn was picked up by Rajasthan Royals for his base price of $100,000. South African Yousuf Abdullah and Australian Adam Voges were bought by Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals for their base price of $50,000 each.

The fairly big pool of players coupled with fewer slots to fill up gave franchisees the opportunity to spend cautiously.

Preity Zinta's Kings XI Punjab spent $300,000 while Mr Vijay Mallya's Bangalore Royal Challengers shelled out $220,000.

Shilpa Shetty's Rajasthan Royals spent just $150,000. India Cement-owned Chennai Super Kings ended up being the least spender, putting in just $100,000.

No takers for Pak players.

Team owners did not bid for Pakistan's cricketers since there was a lot of uncertainty on their availability.