THURSDAY, Feb 21, (News Locale) - It was Mahendra Singh Dhoni's day at the Twenty20 Indian Premier League (IPL) player auction held at the Hilton Towers yesterday. Chennai SuperKings owned by India Cements splashed out a whooping $1.5 million of Rs 6 crore for 44 days of service from the India ODI skipper.  

Even before the auction began it was clear the Jharkhand lad was going to be the most sought-after player. All eight franchises were interested in him, but experts said Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai would vie for his services no matter what the cost.

Inderjit Bindra, a member of the IPL governing council was not surprised there was such a huge demand for big-hitting players, "The market is determining the price. That's how a free market economy should flow," he opined.

Meanwhile rumors were that Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan wanted Dhoni in his team, but Kolkata icon Sourav Ganguly was against this move. Eventually Kolkata went for New Zealand keeper Brendon McCollum.

The second highest bid was surprisingly for Andrew Symonds at $1.35 million with Deccan Chronicle-owned Hyderabad snapping him up. It will be interesting to see how Indian crowds react to Symonds who was subjected to monkey chants during Australia's visit here last year.

Brett Lee went to Mohali, which is owned by Priety Zinta, while Anil Kumble was snapped up by his hometown Banaglore.

However all the glitz and glamour aside, experts were cautious in assessing the impact of money on cricket. Someone like Manoj Tiway who has just played one game for India was snapped up at Rs 2.7 crore, considerably more than seasoned veterans like Ricky Ponting and Shane Warne. If he is worth that much only time will tell.

So all in all the cash bash has begun in the right earnest, it is now time for the cricket to begin....wait for April 18.

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