We throw some questions to our expert Ayaz Memon, who was part of the IPL player auction's live coverage in Bangalore on Saturday

SUNDAY MiD DAY: Pre-auction talk revolved around Yusuf Pathan emerging as the biggest gainer. Although he was not too far behind Gautam Gambhir, was $2.4 million for Gambhir a surprise?

Ayaz Memon: I think Gambhir's bid by KKR took everyone by surprise and possibly caused some early panic in the other franchises, which is why some of the highest bids were made in the first two sessions eg Irfan Pathan, Rohit Sharma and Robin Uthappa. As the day progressed, the nerves became steadier and the bids cooled down a bit, though the final session still had some surprises like Ravindra Jadeja and Piyush Chawla for instance.
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SUNDAY MiD DAY: No takers for Sourav Ganguly. What would you put it down to? Age or troubles with KKR over the last two editions in particular?

Ayaz Memon: Age not beyond an extent for Shane Warne and Adam Gilchrist were ready picks, and finally even Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman found takers.

Sure, we saw some amount of lunacy and emotionalism in auction today, but there is an unmistakable, overriding ruthlessness with which franchises now approach the IPL. In Sourav's case, the big question would have been: what can he bring to the table?

Since KKR's track record has been dismal, he was unlikely to be considered for captaincy alone. And with so many younger players around, to go for somebody his age didn't make sense.

SUNDAY MiD DAY: Brian Lara didn't attract any bidders too. But what could he have brought to a team table at 41?

Ayaz Memon: I was expecting him to draw a blank. He hasn't played at all for almost three years, which is a long, long time. He's been a great player, but that is in the past and the past is a foreign country in the hard world of the IPL. Pure sentiment was never going to work. Lara would have been better off applying as a coach.