Super savers make a killing

Thanks to the 5m cap on spending, the major buyers in the first round 8212; Chennai and Hyderabad 8212; could not acquire any of the 25 fresh cricketers up for sale.

Instead, Jaipur8217;s Rajasthan Royals and Bangalore8217;s Royal Challengers ended up with splendid bargains after having saved 1.7m and 374,000 in the February 20 auction. Jaipur grabbed England8217;s Hampshire all-rounder Dimitri Masceranhas, Australian all-rounder Shane Watson, Pakistan bowler Sohail Tanveer and South African paceman Morne Morkel for astonishingly low prices see box.

Bangalore, meanwhile, hit a jackpot of sorts when they bought Pakistan8217;s Twenty20 championship hero Misbah-ul Haq for a mere 125,000.

The highest spenders of Round Two were Team Mohali, represented by Bombay Dyeing scion Ness Wadia. The team picked up Australian all-rounder James Hopes 8212; who had scored an impressive half-century in the second CB Series final 8212; for 300,000, which was the most expensive buy of the day.

All the players were fixed at a base price of 50,000. Western Australia batsman Luke Pomersbach going for the base price itself and Morkel going for a mere 60,000 could be considered as the best deals in the IPL auctions so far.

Another surprising sale for a mere 50,000 was Tasmania8217;s medium fast bowler Brett Geeves. His career may have been recently marred with injuries, but Geeves is one of the Australian domestic circuit8217;s best all-rounders. He was bought by Team Delhi.

Players such as Kyle Mills and Ross Taylor 8212; who have been the New Zealand one-day team8217;s key contributors in recent times 8212; were bought by Mohali and Bangalore respectively for 150,000 and 100,000.

Jaipur remains the only team that still has a decent amount of money left a little more than a million dollars even after two rounds of auction have come to an end.

In the first round of auction last month, two players 8212; South Africa8217;s Ashwell Prince and Pakistan8217;s Mohammad Yousuf 8212; had remained unsold. While Mumbai Indians settled for Prince at a sum of 175,000, Yousuf was unlucky once again 8212; thanks to his legal hassles with the rebel Indian Cricket League ICL.

8220;A deadline of March 18 has now been set for any further buys,8221; IPL commissioner Lalit Modi said.

Australian fast bowler Shaun Tait had requested Cricket Australia CA to allow him rest from national duty, but had expressed interest in the IPL. Modi, however, said his appeal had come 8220;too late8221; for this round of bidding.