Jan. 8: The sound of the auctioneer’s gavel hitting the podium in an upscale Bangalore hotel was heard thousands of miles across the Indian Ocean. Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men were supposed to practice on Saturday morning for the one-off Twenty20 match against South Africa on Sunday, but with the high-profile IPL auction scheduled at the same time, the players decided to put off practice till noon.
And they followed through any medium they could manage. Some relied on live feeds broadcast on websites of Indian TV channels, while others were more discreet, using Twitter and text messages to keep themselves updated.
Skipper Dhoni, ordinarily not a heavy Twitter user, too joined in the action. He tweeted: “Auction time!” but later rued not being able to follow it properly. Asked whether he was keeping an eye on the acution, he replied, “Not really. I don’t know where it is getting broadcast. In between you keep getting SMSes It’s happening, but I’m not able to follow it as closely as I would follow a cricket game.”
He was, however, “very, very happy” to see India opener and good pal Gautam Gambhir fetch a record $2.4 million price. “Of course you feel happy as long as cricketers are earning money,” he said tongue-in-cheek, before adding: “That’s the biggest thing the IPL has brought to Indian cricket. Not just Gauti, I feel happy when Indian cricketers fetch a good amount.”
The South African players, in contrast were quite perky with the ever-smiling Makahaya Ntini doing the job of conveying the price to his teammates. “JP you’re going to Deccan Chargers. Nice one mate!” he said to J.P. Duminy who responded by waving his hand in approval.
South African Twenty20 captain and off-spinner Johan Botha, who fetched nearly a million, was understandably the most ecstatic among the lot. “It’s a massive surprise and these type of things are life-changing. Obviously I am delighted and I can do what Rajasthan expect me to do.
“I got along well with Warney (Shane Warne) and the coaching staff. It’s nice to go back to a team where you have been before.”