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Cricketers for sale! Stars go under hammer for IPL
Published on Wed, Feb 20, 2008 at 08:22, Updated on Wed, Feb 20, 2008 at 13:17 in 
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MILLION-DOLLAR BABIES: Apart from top Indian cricketers, some top international stars too are up for grabs.
New Delhi: Cricket enters uncharted territory on Wednesday in an important phase of the multi-million dollar DLF Indian Premier League as top cricketers go under the hammer in an open auction of players among the eight franchise teams.
Apart from the top Indian cricketers, some top international cricket stars too are up for grabs. They include Australian Test and One-Day skipper Ricky Ponting, highest Test wicket-taker Muttiah Muralitharan of Sri Lanka and controversial Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar.
There will also be big bargain for retired Australian greats Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath and South Africa's Shaun Pollock, apart from retiring Australian wicketkeeper/ batsman Adam Gilchrist.
In all, 13 Australians, 11 South Africans, nine Sri Lankans, eight Pakistanis, six New Zealanders, three West Indians, two Bangladeshis, one Zimbabwean and 33 Indian players are up for auction.
PLAYERS IN DIFFERENT CATEGORIES |
| A - Big names like Dhoni, McGrath and Warne |
| B - Level two players like Stephen Fleming and Shahid Afridi |
| C - Wicketkeeper-batsmen like Mark Boucher and Dinesh Karthik |
| D - All-rounders like Shaun Pollock and Irfan Pathan |
| E - Batsmen like Langer, Uthappa and Sarwan |
| F - Bowlers like Vaas, Bracken and Malinga |
| G - Unavailable in 2008 like Ponting, Lee and Hayden |
The auction will begin at a five-star hotel in Mumbai at 1100 hrs IST on Wednesday and the process may go on for 10 to 12 hours.
BASE PRICE OF TOP PLAYERS | ||
| Mahendra Singh Dhoni | $400,000 | Rs 1.60 cr |
| Anil Kumble and Harbhajan | $250,000 | Rs 1 cr |
| S Sreesanth, Zaheer Khan, Rudra Pratap Singh, Robin Uthappa, Murali Kartik and Dinesh Karthik | $200,000 | Rs 80 lakh |
| Irfan Pathan | $175,000 | Rs 70 lakh |
| Rohit Sharma | $150,000 | Rs 60 lakh |
| Mohammad Kaif, Suresh Raina and Yousuf Pathan | $125,000 | Rs 50 lakh |
| Joginder Sharma | $100,000 - $125,000 | Rs 40-50 lakh |
| Munaf Patel and Ishant Sharma | $100,000 | Rs 40 lakh |
| Shane Warne | $390,000 | Rs 1.56 cr |
| Glenn McGrath | $340,000 | Rs 1.36 cr |
| Jason Gillespie | $175,000 | Rs 70 lakh |
| Matthew Hayden | $125,000 | Rs 50 lakh |
| Shoaib Malik | $292,500 | Rs 1.17 cr |
| Stephen Fleming | $340,000 | Rs 1.36 cr |
| Sanath Jayasurya, Kumar Sangakkara, Muralitharan, M Jayawardene | $242,500 | Rs 97 lakh |
| Daniel Vittori | $217,500 | Rs 87 lakh |
| Graeme Smith, Herschelle Gibbs | $220,000 | Rs 88 lakh |
| Jacques Kallis | $195,000 | Rs 78 lakh |
| Mark Boucher | $175,000 | Rs 70 lakh |
| Scott Styris | $145,000 | Rs 58 lakh |
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We have nobody to blame than ourselves for all this wasting of money. Its we Indian who are responsible for
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Is criket still a game of gentlemen??, great cricketers are bieng sold like cattles and properties, Is it really going
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What is happening ? Who says india is a poor country.. developing country ?... we are developing cricket in our
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I wish the true cricketing fans of India boycott this flesh trade and teach a lesson to Lalith modi and
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may be murali karthick is accepted. dinesh karthick is wicket keeping batsmen and any team would like to have such
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