The often controversial but always highly entertaining Indian Premier League was once again making headlines on Wednesday morning as the Royal Challengers Bangalore broke the bank to sign Indian all-rounder Yuvraj Singh.
Before the explosive action gets underway on 8 April, all eight teams took part in the first day of auctioning as they looked to secure the very best talent the cricketing world has to offer.
A total of 551 players went up for auction – with some 216 having been capped at international level – and unsurprisingly there were some huge names snapped up on the first day.
This year’s auction did however feature two slight change in the rules with the addition of the “right to retain” and “right to match” options given to the teams.
The right to retain rule allowed all eight teams to pre-book up to five players from their previous squad to not be entered into the auction.
The list of retained players came out last month but from the eight teams, only three – Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals took full advantage for 2014.
Chennai decided to keep hold of MS Dhoni, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Suresh Raina and IPL 2013’s purple cap winner for most wickets – Dwayne Bravo.
Defending champions Mumbai Indians retained their star fast bowler Lasith Malinga along with destructive West Indian bastman Kieron Pollard, Ambati Rayudu, Rohit Sharma and the vastly experienced Harbhajan Singh.
Third place Rajasthan Royals continued their strategy of mixing youth with experience by recalling the services of Australians Shane Watson and James Faulkner, whilst also keeping hold of two uncapped Indian players in Stuart Binny and Sanju Samson. They also decided to stick with opening batsman Ajinkya Rahane.
Vijay Mallya’s Royal Challengers Bangalore look as though they could be a major threat this season as they secured a star-studded battling line-up that includes world class talent in Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Yuvraj Singh.
Many had expected controversial former England batsman Kevin Pietersen to be the most expensive player on day one of the auction, but the Surrey star was overshadowed by Yuvraj.
Pietersen was initially sold to Sunrisers Hyderabad but Delhi Daredevils used their right to match the bid and steal the hugely destructive batsman.
With still a day and half of auctions to go Royal Challengers and Knight Riders will have to bid strategically from now on as their budgets are running low with Rs. 3,80,00,000 (AED 2,246,674) and Rs. 9,00,00,000 (AED 5,321,070) left respectively.
Here is a selection of the best of Wednesday mornings IPL auction:
Most expensive player: Yuvraj Singh
The former Pune Warrior all-rounder was clearly a man in demand as his former side, as well as Kings XI Punjab and the Royals attempted to outbid each other.
There was an initial offer of Rs 3.5 crore (AED 2,069,305) from the Royals before the Knight Riders also entered the bidding. Al four teams battled it out to have Yuvi on their team, but it was Mallya's side who secured his services with a whopping 14 crore (AED 8,272,460) offer.
Most expensive overseas player: Kevin Pietersen
The former England batsmen was expected to reach a record breaking figure but he was eventually obtained for Rs. 9 crore (AED 5,321,070) by former employers Delhi Daredevils who used their right-to-match card.
Most surprising buy: Mitchell Johnson
The surprising aspect about this great acquirement by Kings XI Punjab is that the Mumbai Indians did not use their right-to-match card to get him back.
The Aussie fast bowler had been one of Mumbai Indians' key players last season, picking up 24 wickets in 13 games but he was eventually sold to Kings Punjab for a relatively low fee of Rs. 6.4 crore (AED 3,783,872).
Highest profile unsold player: Mahela Jayawardene
The classy Sri Lankan batsman would have been expected to be one of the most sought after players in the action but a late injury meant that there was not a single bid and he is now expected to not only miss the tournament, but his rest of the tour of Bangladesh.
