By IANS
Mumbai : India’s one-day captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was grabbed by the Chennai team for a whopping $1.5 million while outgoing Australian wicket keeper Adam Gilchrist was bought by the Hyderabad franchise for $700,000 in the first round of the players’ auction for the Indian Premier League (IPL) here Wednesday.
Legendary former Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne was picked up by Jaipur for his reserve price of $450,000 and his archrival Muttiah Muralitharan of Sri Lanka joined Dhoni at Chennai for $600,000.
Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene and his team mate Kumar Sangakkara were bagged by the Mohali team for $475,000 and $700,000 respectively. Former Sri Lanka coach Tom Moody will be the coach of the Mohali team.
Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar was won by Kolkata for $425,000. His captain will be Sourav Ganguly and while Australian John Buchanan will be the coach.
In the second round of the auctioning, India’s Test captain Anil Kumble was picked by his home team Bangalore for $500,000 while his spin partner Harbhajan Singh was bought by the Mumbai franchise for $850,000. Harbhajan will be joined in the Mumbai team by swashbuckling Sri Lankan opener Sanath Jayasuriya, who was bought for $975,000.
The teams – from Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mohali and Mumbai – have a budget of up to $5 million each for a maximum of eight contracted players.