Ganguly, Lara, Gayle are unsold at IPL Auction

The IPL auction represented a great surprise by showing Sourav Ganguly,  Brian Lara, and Chris Gayle a cold shoulder. A lot of fans of the once great players remained disappointed as none of the franchise picked them up. Sourav Gunguly , the former Indian captain ,has not been kept by Kolkata Night Riders(KKR) which is the team of Kolkata and Sourav captained the team in 2008 and 2010 IPL. And none of the other franchise bought him .Sourav is seen a great hero in his home town and his fans burnt the effigy of Shahrukh Khan the owner of KKR. Another legendry player Brian Lara with the base price of $ 400,000 has also been ignored in the auction. The greatest surprise is the omission of one of the best destructive opening batsman Chris Gayle. Chris Gayle scored the first T20 international century.

Sourav scored 538 runs in total in 24 IPL innings with an average of 23.39, 3 fifties and with his highest 91.About his omission t IPL chairman Chirayu Amin said it was the decision of the owners of the franchise. Shahrukh Khan said they can still keep Ganguly making him a part management of the team.

England’s Ashes winning players James Anderson, Matt Prior and Graeme Smith were also not taken by any franchise. An official said the English players were not favored as they are no available for the whole session. New Zealand and South African players got a god bid for this reason.

The players unsold at the auction……..

Sourav Ganguly ($400,000)                 

Brian Lara ($400,000)

Chris Gayle ($400,000)

James Anderson ($400,000)

Graeme Swann  ($400,000)

Luke Wright $400,000)

Jesse Ryder  ($100,000)

Herschelle Gibbs  ($200,000)

Graham Manou ($50,000)

Matt Prior ($200,000)

Mark Boucher  ($200,000)

Dilhara Fernando ($100,000)

Ajanta Mendis ($200,000)

Murali Kartik  ($200,000)

Chamara Kapugedera  ($100,000)

Tamim Iqbal ($100,000)

Source: Rediff