No takers for Ashes heroes and cricket legends

Bangalore: There were no takers for England's Ashes heroes James Anderson, Graeme Swann, Matt Prior and cricket legends like Brian Lara and Sourav Ganguly on the first day of the players' auction for the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) here Saturday.

Ganguly, India's most successful Test captain, was the first of the 16 players to go into the unsold basket at the ITC Royal Gardenia. Ganguly was earlier placed in the $200,000 price bracket, but he later increased his base price to $400,000, which is the highest bracket for marquee players in the league.

Ganguly, who was the oldest Indian player up for auction at 38 years and six months, had a tough time with Knight Riders and was also removed from captaincy in the second edition in South Africa.

But Knight Riders were not interested in Ganguly and released him for the fourth edition. During Ganguly's auction, the spotlight was on the Knight Riders' table, but the team's think tank looked down as his name was repeatedly called before he went to the unsold basket.

Ganguly was soon joined by another Knight Riders player Gayle in the unsold category.

At 41, Lara was the oldest player in the IPL auction and failed to attract any of the 10 franchises and the celebrity auctioneer Richard Madley didn't waste much time to dump him in the unsold basket where he joined Gayle, another former West Indies captain.

Lara made a return to competitive cricket by playing in Zimbabwe's premier Twenty20 league in October. He was eager to play in the IPL and was also working on his fitness.

IPL chairman Chirayu Amin said that the unsold players will get another chance to find buyers.

"The unsold players will be back in the fray again after the initial rounds are over. This is a reality of the game. It is extremely competitive and the choice of players is left with the owners. The IPL governing council has no say in this matter. It is unfortunate but that's the reality of life," said Amin.

The list of 16 unsold cricketers:

Sourav Ganguly (India) $400,000
Brian Lara (West Indies) $400,000
Chris Gayle (West Indies) $400,000
Luke Wright (England) $400,000
James Anderson (England) $400,000
Graeme Swann (England)$400,000
Herschelle Gibbs (South Africa) $200,000
Matt Prior (England) $200,000
Mark Boucher (South Africa) $200,000
Murali Kartik (India) $200,000
Ajantha Mendis (Sri Lanka) $200,000
Jesse Ryder (New Zealand) $100,000
Dilharo Fernando (Sri Lanka) $100,000
Chamara Kapugedera (Sri Lanka) $100,000
Tamim Iqbal (Bangladesh) $100,000
Graham Manou (Australia) $50,000 

List of players involved in the IPL auction held in Bangalore on January 8 and 9, 2011. The list of players bought is in descending order of their final bid price.

Gautam Gambhir sold to Kolkata Knight Riders for a record $2.4 million.

Yusuf Pathan to Kolkata Knight Riders for $2.1 million.

Robin Uthappa to Pune for $2.1 million

Rohit Sharma to Mumbai Indians for $2 million.

Irfan Pathan to Delhi Daredevils for $1.9 million.

Yuvraj Singh to Pune for $1.8 million.

Saurabh Tiwary to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $1.6 million.

Mahela Jayawardene to Kochi for $1.5 million.

David Hussey to Kings XI Punjab for $1.4 million

Dale Steyn goes to Deccan Chargers for $1.2 million

Muttiah Muralitharan to Kochi for $1.1 million.

AB de Villiers to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $1.1 million.

Cameron White to Deccan Chargers for $1.1 million.

Jacques Kallis to Kolkata Knight Riders for $1.1 million.

Ross Taylor to Rajasthan Royals for $1 million.

Angelo Mathews to Pune for $950,000

Ravindra Jadeja to Kochi for $950,000

Johan Botha to Rajasthan Royals for $950,000.

Dan Christian to Deccan Chargers for $900,000

Dinesh Karthik to Kings XI Punjab for $900,000

Piyush Chawla to Kings XI Punjab for $900,000.

Sreesanth to Kochi for $900,000

Adam Gilchrist to Kings XI Punjab for $900,000.

Zaheer Khan to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $900,000.

R Ashwin to Chennai Super Kings for $850,000

Ashish Nehra to Pune for $850,000

Andrew Symonds to Mumbai Indians for $850,000

S Badrinath to Chennai Super Kings for $800,000.

Praveen Kumar to Kings XI Punjab for $800,000.

Abhishek Nayar to Kings XI Punjab for $800,000

Umesh Yadav to Delhi Daredevils for $750,000

David Warner to Delhi for $750,000

Munaf Patel to Mumbai Indians for $700,000

Venugopal Rao to Delhi Daredevils for $700,000

Cheteswar Pujara to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $700,000.

Doug Bollinger to Chennai Super Kings for $700,000

Kumar Sangakkara to Deccan Chargers for $700,000.

Dirk Nannes to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $650,000.

Tillakaratne Dilshan to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $650,000.

Kevin Pietersen to Deccan Chargers for $650,000.

Daniel Vettori to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $550,000

Lakshmipathy Balaji to Kolkata Knight Riders for $500,000

Pragyan Ojha to Deccan Chargers for $500,000

Rahul Dravid to Rajasthan Royals for $500,000.

Graeme Smith to Pune for $500,000.

RP Singh to Kochi for $500,000.

R Vinaykumar to Kochi for $475,000

Manoj Tiwary to Kolkata Knight Riders for $475,000.

Morne Morkel to Delhi Daredevils for $475,000

Brendon McCullum to Kochi for $475,000.

Ishant Sharma to Deccan Chargers for $450,000.

Brad Hodge to Kochi for $425,000.

Shakib al Hasan to Kolkata Knight Riders for $425,000

Michael Hussey to Chennai for $425,000.

Brett Lee to Kolkata Knight Riders for $400,000

Stuart Broad to Kings XI Punjab for $400,000

VVS Laxman to Kochi for $400,000

Murli Kartik to Pune for $400,000

Ashok Dinda to Delhi Daredevils for $375,000

Eoin Morgan to Kolkata Knight Riders for $350,000.

James Hopes to Delhi Daredevils for $350,000.

Ryan Harris to Kings XI Punjab for $325,000.

Brad Haddin goes to Kolkata Knight Riders for $325,000.

Shaun Tait to Rajasthan Royals for $300,000

Callum Ferguson to Pune for $300,000

Aaron Finch to Delhi Daredevils for $300,000

Amit Mishra to Deccan Chargers for $300,000

Shikhar Dhawan to Deccan Chargers for $300,000.

JP Duminy to Deccan Chargers for $300,000

Mitchell Marsh to Pune for $290,000

Manpreet Gony to Deccan Chargers for $290,000

Parthiv Patel to Kochi for $290,000

Naman Ojha to Delhi Daredevils for $270,000

Tim Paine to Pune for $270,000

Abhimanyu Mithun to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $260,000

Jaidev Unadkat to Kolkata Knight Riders for $250,000

Paul Collingwood to Rajasthan Royals for $250,000.

Sudeep Tyagi to Chennai Super Kings for $240,000

Ajit Agarkar to Delhi Daredvils for $210,000

Owais Shah to Kochi for $200,000

Scott Styris to Chennai Super Kings for $200,000

Steven Smith to Kochi for $200,000

Dwayne Bravo to Chennai Super Kings at $200,000

Davy Jacobs to Mumbai Indians for $190,000

Ramesh Powar to Kochi for $180,000

Wayne Parnell to Pune for $160,000

Ryan ten Doeschate to Kolkata Knight Riders for $150,000

Jesse Ryder to Pune for $150,000

Joginder Sharma to Chennai Super Kings for $150,000

Charl Langeveldt to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $140,000

Mohammad Kaif to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $130,000

Faf du Plessis to Chennai Super Kings for $120,000

Clint McKay to Mumbai Indians for $110,000

Jerome Taylor to Pune for $100,000

James Pattinson to Kolkata Knight Riders for $100,000

Alfonso Thomas to Pune for $100,000

Nuwan Kulasekara to Chennai Super Kings for $100,000

Matthew Wade to Delhi Daredevils for $100,000

Dimitri Mascarenhas to Kings XI Punjab for $100,000

Colin Ingram to Delhi Daredevils for $100,000

Ben Hilfenhaus to Chennai Super Kings for $100,000

Nathan McCullum to Pune for $100,000

James Franklin to Mumbai Indians for $100,000

Wriddhiman Saha to Chennai Super Kings for $100,000

Pankaj Singh to Rajasthan Royals for $95,000

Rusty Theron to Deccan Charges for $85,000

Suraj Randiv to Chennai Super Kings for $80,000

Andrew McDonald to Delhi Daredevils for $80,000

Thisara Perera to Kochi for $80,000

Michael Lumb to Deccan Chargers for $80,000

Michael Klinger to Kochi for $75,000

Johan van der Wath to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $50,000

Moises Henriques to Mumbai Indians for $50,000

George Bailey to Chennai Super Kings for $50,000

Roelof van der Merwe to Delhi Daredevils for $50,000

Luke Pomersbach to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $50,000

Rilee Rossouw to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $20,000

Nuwan Pradeep to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $20,000

Chris Lynn to Deccan Chargers for $20,000

Travis Birt to Delhi Daredevils for $20,000

Nathan Rimmington to Kings XI Punjab for $20,000

Jonathan Vandiar to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $20,000

Aiden Blizzard to Mumbai Indians for $20,000

Robert Frylinck to Delhi Daredevils for $20,000

Steven O'Keefe to Kochi for $20,000