Indian Premier League Player Auction 2014

The two-day IPL Auction carnival which took place on the 12th and 13th February, 2014 proved to be crispy, crazy and as grand an affair as the previous two Auctions with the eight Franchises splurging millions to grab the best players available in the market so as to strengthen their Squad. The auction held in Bangalore this year, starts the onset of the IPL Fever, in its 7th edition, set to hit the country this April-May. As usual, even this year's Auction had its own share of shock and disapproval, highs and lows and controversial decisions. The Franchises rolled out whooping amount for some players but many good performers were left unsold.

Yuvraj Singh and Dinesh Karthik were the biggest buys of the season. Yuvraj Singh got a grand price deal of Rs.14 crores from Royal Challengers Bangalore, while Dinesh Karthik got into Delhi Daredevils with Rs. 12.5 crores held firm in his purse. Amongst the foreign players Kevin Pietersen was taken over by Delhi Daredevil for Rs 9 crores, whereas, Mitchell Johnson and Glenn Maxwell went to Kings XI Punjab for 6.5crores and 6crores respectively. Three struggling India players - Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma saw them being sold marginally above their base prices as Sehwag went to Punjab for 3.5 crores and Zaheer to Mumbai Indians for 2.6 crores, while Ishant was retained by Sunrisers Hyderabad for 2.6 crores.
There were also players who came much cheaper than their actual credibility, making them the best buys at the 2014 auction like Ravi Rampaul bought by Royal Challengers Bangalore for Rs.90 lakhs, George Bailey by Kings XI Punjab for Rs.3.25 crores, Morne Morkel for Rs.2.8 crores by Kolkata Knight Riders & ROSS TAYLOR bought by Delhi Daredevils at his Base Price of Rs. 2 crore.

This IPL Auction also made history as it was the first time that the uncapped players (players who haven't yet played for their national team) were also given their share of glory and brought on the auction table, thus marking the changing face of IPL. Karan Sharma whose base price was 30 lakhs got a contract with Sunrisers Hyderabad of Rs. 3.75 crores and Rishi Dhawan (Base price-20 lakhs ) was bagged by Kings XI Punjab for 3 crores - both a life changing deal.

However, the auction also had its fair share of disappointing incidents. Famous experienced and proven players like Brett Lee, Munaf Patel and Cameron White were not taken up by any teams. Many talented Sri Lankan and English players were also ignored, though that may be because of the upcoming Sri Lanka- England Series which clashes with IPL 2014.

This time, however, attaining the Match Venues and a strong and massive squad of police & security personnel may be extremely tough considering that the General Elections are scheduled at the same time. So the initial part of the IPL will reportedly be hosted by South Africa, although some other countries like UAE and Bangladesh are running as contenders, so as to take this lucrative money-spinning endeavor to their own countries. But whatever the case may be, Indians must start gearing themselves up for another edition of complete cricket entertainment, controversial gossips and sporty on-field rivalry.