BENGALURU: It has been a different scenario two-months before, when the 34-year-old Australian all-rounder Shane Robert Watson was preferred by no one. The dashing batsman had then lost his place in the Australian team owing to poor performance. However, scoring a century in the last T20 match against India just at the right time had turned everything in favor of Shane Watson. IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bengaluru had bagged him for an whopping Rs 9.5 crore in a tough competition among three bidders.
Shane Watson has been the highest paid player at the end of the 2016 IPL auction, which saw franchises spending on a rather lower note when compared to the previous edition. Yuvraj Singh has been the costliest buy among the Indians players with Rs 7 Crore, a far lower bid when compared to his remuneration in the last IPL season (Rs 16 Crore). The Punjabi all-rounder was bagged by the Sun Risers Hyderabad management, who were accompanied by VVS Laxman, SRH mentor.
Other key bids are for veteran Indian pacer Ashish Nehra and Ishant Sharma who were brought for Rs 5.5 Crore and Rs 3.8 crore by Sun Risers Hyderabad and Rising Pune Super Giants, respectively. New franchise Pune had also bagged inform batsman Kevin Pietersen for Rs 3.5 Crore. Another new comer, Gujarat Lions roped in Dwayne Smith for Rs 2.3 Crore.
It is common with the marquee players to get a highest-paid contract in IPL. However, bringing a change to this trend there are quite a few bids by franchises to surprise common cricket lovers who were watching the live telecast of the auction in Bengaluru. Unheralded West Indian batsman Carlos Brathwaite was a surprise gainer fetching a whopping Rs 4.2 crore fee from the Delhi Daredevils, a huge jump from his base price of Rs 30 lakh. The same franchise has bagged young-wicket-keeper Sanju samson for Rs 4.2 crore. The most surprising buy had been from Delhi, who have spent a huge Rs 8.5 crore for Pawan Negi!, the highest paid Indian cricketer in IPL 2016.
On the other hand, star players like Australia’s Aaron Finch and New Zealand’s Martin Guptill have not been in the consideration of the IPL franchises. Former Australian captain George Bailey, South African Hashim Amla and retired players Jayawardene, Michael Hussey were also among the list of the players unsold. However, unsold players will be brought again on the screen after the actual round of bidding.