Jan. 8: In 2008, when the first auction was held, the thrust was on experienced players, even veterans. Three editions later, the oldies find themselves in the lurch as the franchisees chose to overlook several high-profile names.
Kolkata’s icon in the first season, Sourav Ganguly, 38 who had upped his base price to the top $400K bracket shockingly found no takers when his name came up in the draw. It was quite evident that Shah Rukh Khan’s Kolkata Knight Riders had parted ways with him but the fact that even the new entrants in Kochi and Pune turned a deaf ear towards his name, must have come as a big blow to the Kolkatan.
It sure is set to create a huge controversy in Kolkata, for the cricket-crazy public will find it difficult to come to terms with the fact that their ‘Dada’ is no longer part of the mix.
Of course, all is not lost yet, as the unsold players will come into the pool on the second day.
Joining Ganguly in the unsold category was West Indian legend Brian Lara, who at 41, visualised a comeback to T20 cricket. Again, stunningly the ten teams chose to skip Lara and instead concentrate on younger legs. The only saving grace for the ageing lot was Adam Gilchrist, who at 39, was actively pursued by King’s XI and picked up for $900,000.
Other notable players to go unsold on the day were Chris Gayle, Mark Boucher and Ajantha Mendis. England bowlers James Anderson and Graeme Swann and wicketkeeper Matt Prior also were left ruing their luck as they didn’t find favour with any of the owners.