Reputation and past performances took a severe beating in the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction held in Bangalore on Saturday.
<img title="India wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2016/feb/7Dinesh-Karthik-1.jpg" alt="India wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik" /> India wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik
The auction for the ninth edition of one of the most popular T20 leagues in the world, saw prices of many cricketers, who pocketed millions in the previous auction, take a massive hit, while some star cricketers completely went out of the reckoning during the bidding. The 2016 auction may have come as a rude awakening for some, who have been top-earners till last season.
Karthik loses it India wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik, who was bought by Delhi Daredevils in 2014 for Rs 12.5 crore, and Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2015 for Rs 10.5 crore, on Saturday managed to attract a mere Rs 2.3 crore in a bid by Gujarat Lions. Likewise, former England skipper Kevin Pietersen experienced a major hit to his IPL price tag.
During the 2014 auction, where Delhi snapped him for a whopping Rs 9 crore and retained him for the 2015 edition, this time Pietersen was bought by Rising Pune Supergiants for R3.5 crore &mdash; just Rs 1.5 crore more than his base price (Rs 2 crore). Pietersen's former teammate Yuvraj Singh, who made a stunning comeback to India's World T20 team, failed to make a similar impact during this auction.
The flamboyant all-rounder had seen a stellar rise in his price in every auction. From Rs 8.28 crore in 2011 auction to R16 crore in 2015. However, this time Yuvraj only fetched Rs 7 crore. In fact, the 34-year-old failed to attract any bids earlier on in the auction, before he was eventually bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad.
On one hand, while some millionaire cricketers saw a dip in their wealth index, on the other there were some, who failed to attract any bids at all from the eight franchises. Most notable among them was former Australian limited-overs skipper George Bailey, under whom the franchise reached the IPL final in the 2014 edition. However, the Mohali-based franchisee chose not to retain him and neither did any of the other teams show any interest in the 33-year-old, who is still part of the Australian limited-overs squad.
Pragyan Ojha ignored Surprisingly, Pragyan Ojha, who had finished as the Purple Cap-holder for Deccan Chargers in 2010, before being bought by Mumbai Indians in 2014 for Rs 3.25 crore and retained for another two years, also failed to attract any bidders during this auction.
Mumbai and India all-rounder Abhishek Nayar, who was bought by the now-defunct Pune Warriors for Rs 3.6 crore in the 2013 auction and then for Rs 1 crore by the currently suspended Rajasthan Royals in the 2014, also found no bidders in Bangalore on Saturday.
Meanwhile, KC Cariappa, the uncapped mystery spinner from Karnataka, who made a big splash when Kolkata Knight Riders paid a whopping Rs 2.4 crore for him in the 2015 auction, managed to fetch just R80 lakh this time from a bid by Kings XI Punjab.

Players who previously pocketed millions failed to draw big bucks in Saturday's Indian Premier League auction

IPL auction: Millionaires lose it!

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IPL auction: Millionaires lose it!

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