Ganguly and Lara yet to find a team

The much awaited IPL - 4 auction was underway on Saturday, and caught every one by surprise.
To name a few were Royal Challengers Bangalore did not show any interest in biding for Rahul Dravid, which Rajasthan Royals made full use of. Delhi Daredevils skipper Gautam Gambhir was expensive buy of the first day and was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders.

Among the players who still did not find a team were veterans Brain Lara and Saurav Ganguly. Will they manage to find one on day 2?

The list of players been bought by each team on day one.

Kings XI Punjab

• Adam Gilchrist - Rs 4.14 cr ($900,000)
• Dinesh Karthik - Rs 4.14 cr ($9,00,000)
  
• David Hussey - Rs 6.44 cr ($1.5 mn)
  
• Abhisek Nayar - Rs 3.68 cr ($8,00,000)
  
• Stuart Broad - Rs 1.84 cr ($4,00,000)
  
• Pravin Kumar - Rs 3.68 cr ($8,00,000)
  
• Ryan Harris - Rs 1.49 cr ($3,25,000)
  
• Piyush Chawla - Rs 4.14 cr ($9,00,000)
  

Rajasthan Royals

• Ross Taylor - Rs 4.6 cr ($1 million)
• Rahul Dravid - Rs 2.3 cr ($500,000)
• Johan Botha - Rs 4.37 cr ($950,000)
• Paul Collingwood - Rs 1.15 cr ($2,50,000)
  

Team Kochi

• Mahela Jayawardene - Rs 6.75 cr ($1.5 million)
• VVS Laxman - Rs 1.84 cr ($400,000)
• Brendon McCullum - Rs 2.18 cr ($475,000)
• S Sreesanth - Rs 4.14 cr ($900,000)
• RP Singh - Rs 2.3 cr ($500,000)
• Parthiv Patel - Rs 1.33 cr ($290,000)
• Ravindra Jadeja - Rs 4.37 cr ($950,000)
  
• Steven Smith - Rs 92 lakh ($2,00,000)
• Ramesh Powar - Rs 82.8 lakh ($1,80,000)
  
• Brad Hodge - Rs 1.95 cr ($4,25,000)
  
• Muttiah Muralitharan - Rs 5.1 cr ($ 1.1 mn)

Kolkata Knight Riders

• Gautam Gambhir - Rs 11.04 cr ($2.4 million)
• Yusuf Pathan - Rs 9.66 cr ($2.1 million)
• Jacques Kallis - Rs 5.06 cr ($1.1 million)
• Brad Haddin - Rs 1.49 cr ($3,25,000)
  
• Shakib al Hasan - Rs 1.95 cr ($4,25,000)
  
• Brett Lee - Rs 1.84 cr ($4,00,000)
  
• Eoin Morgan - Rs 1.65 cr ($3,50,000)
  
• Manoj Tiwary - Rs 2.48 cr ($4,75,000)
  

Mumbai Indians

• Rohit Sharma - Rs 9.2 cr ($2 million)
• Andrew Symonds - Rs 3.91 cr ($850,000)
• David Jacob - Rs 87.4 lakh ($1,90,000)
  
• James Franklin - Rs 46 lakh ($1,00,000)
  

Delhi Daredevils

• Irfan Pathan - Rs 8.74 cr ($1.9 million)
• David Warner - Rs 3.4 cr ($7,50,000)
• Naman Ojha - Rs 1.24 cr ($2,70,000)
• James Hopes - Rs 1.61 cr ($3,50,000)
• Morne Morkel - Rs 2.18 cr ($4,75,000)
• Finch - Rs 1.4 cr ($3,00,000)

Chennai Super Kings

• Wridhiman Saha - Rs 46 Lakh ($1,00,000)
• Dwayne Bravo - Rs 92 lakh ($2,00,000)
• Doug Bollinger - Rs 3.22 cr ($7,00,000)
• R Ashwin - Rs 3.91 cr ($8,50,000)
• Michael Hussey - Rs 2.0 cr ($4,25,000)
• S Badrinath - Rs 3.68 cr ($8,00,000)

Sahara Pune Warriors

• Yuvraj Singh - Rs 8.2 cr ($1.8million)
• Graeme Smith - Rs 2.3 cr ($500,000)
• Robin Uthappa - Rs 9.66 cr ($2.1 million)
• Tim Paine - Rs 1.24 cr ($2,70,000)
• Ashish Nehra - Rs 3.91 cr ($ 8,50,000)
  
• Nathan McCullum - Rs 46 lakh ($1,00,000)
  
• Callum Ferguson - Rs 1.38 cr ($3,00,000)
  
• Angelo Mathews - Rs 4.4 cr ($9,50,000)

Royal Challengers Bangalore

• Dilshan Tillakaratne - Rs 2.99 crore ($650,000)
• Zaheer Khan - Rs 4.14 crore ($900,000)
• AB de Villiers - Rs 5.06 cr ($1.1 mn)
• Daniel Vettori - Rs 2.53 cr ($550,000)
• Saurabh Tiwary - Rs 7.36 cr ($1.4 mn)
• Dirk Nannes - Rs 2.99 cr ($6,50,000)
  
• Cheteswar Pujara - Rs 3.2 cr ($7,00,000)
  

Decan Chargers

• Kevin Pietersen - Rs 2.99 cr ($6,50,000)
• Cameron White - Rs 5.06 cr ($1.1 million)
• Kumar Sangakkara - Rs 3.22 cr ($700,000)
• Shikhar Dhawan - Rs 1.38 cr ($300,000)
• J P Duminy - Rs 1.38 cr ($300,000)
• Ishant Sharma - Rs 2.07 cr ($4,50,000)
  
• Dale Steyn - Rs 5.32 cr ($1.2 mn)
  
• Amit Mishra - Rs 1.38 cr ($3,00,000)
  
• Pragyan Ojha - Rs 2.30 cr ($5,00,000)

The stage is set IPL 4 auctions

The big stage for the IPL 4 auction is all set to begin on Saturday. The season 4 will be featuring 10 teams with 70 odd matches to played. The IPL 4 will commence just 6 days after the ICC ODI world cup. Notable players that have been retained by their old franchisee are M.S Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Murali Vijay and Albie Morkel by Chennai Super Kings. V Shewag by Delhi Daredevils, Sachin Tendular by Mumbai Indians and Virat Kohli by Royal Challengers Bangalore. Other than these players all the other players will be in the pool for auction.

Following are the base prices of some of the star players who will go under the hammer in the Indian Premier League 4 auction to be held on Saturday and Sunday:

$4,00,000: Adam Gilchrist, Brett Lee, Shaun Marsh, James Anderson, Kevin Pietersen, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, Luke Wright, Michael Yardy, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, Daniel Vettori, Brendon McCullum, Ross Taylor, Graeme Smith, AB de Villiers, Mahela Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Brian Lara, Chris Gayle, Sourav Ganguly.

$3,00,000: Zaheer Khan, Yusuf Pathan, Jacques Kallis, Muttiah Muralitharan, Andrew Symonds, Shaun Tait, Kumar Sangakkara, Angelo Mathews.

$2,00,000: Gautam Gambhir, Michael Hussey, Doug Bollinger, Dirk Nannes, Eoin Morgan, Robin Uthappa, Sanath Jayasuriya.

$1,00,000: Tamim Iqbal, R. Ashwin, Morne Morkel, Ben Hilfenhaus.

Indian batters save test

An insipid performance from India's bowlers on the fourth day had broken their aspirations of a maiden Test series victory in South Africa but, on the fifth, the batsmen ensured they achieved at least a draw for the first time in the country. In an anticlimactic end to an enthralling contest, Gautam Gambhir was at the forefront of the Indian resistance, Rahul Dravid blocked lots of balls, and South Africa's bowlers toiled 82 overs for three wickets, when they needed ten.

South Africa fell behind early in their pursuit of victory and eventually took only one wicket in each session. The key to their chances lay in how many they dismissed with the new ball, and India won a decisive battle by surviving the first 11 overs without damage. Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel weren't as hostile as they were in the first innings but still bowled aggressively in the morning. Once that threat passed, India's passage was easier. They survived one more flutter of anxiety, soon after Dravid fell late in the second session, when AB de Villiers failed to catch an extremely tough chance off Gambhir. The game was called off with umpteen fielders waiting for catches that never came, and South Africa were still winless in a series at home since Bangladesh's visit in

Anil Kumble calls it off

This would have not been an easy call for Anil Kumble, 19 years of international cricket shows the commitment and fitness he had. It must have been a surprise to all when he called it off.

One gets a feeling that it wasn't the injury that caused him pull off, coz no one would forget the Kumble who bowled with a broken jaw in the Caribbean. Probably he feels that the fresh legs are doing a better job than what the legends have been doing. Dhoni has done a great job as a skipper, this should have been at the back of his mind when India where in a commanding position in the third test at Delhi and failed to force a result.

Kumble is undoubtedly a cricketing legend and has always been playing the second fiddle even though he was one of the seniour most player of the team. Feel sorry for him for he was made the skipper in the last stage of his carrer, yet he proved what he is capable of in the series Down under last year.

Team India will be missing the services of Anil and Ganguly who has already announced his retirment after the 4th test at Nagpur. Dravid who has not been doing all that well in this series could be axed out from the test squad too, as the new skipper has a strong belief that the youngters have more potential than the seniours and he did prove that by lifting up the first ever T20 World Cup in South Africa.

Tags: Cricket, Anil Kumble

Alonso grabs headlines in Brazil

Renaults' Fernando Alonso has topped the time sheets on fridays' practice session for the Brazilian GP. Massa and Trulli stole the second and third place respectively.
Force India drivers Sutil and Fisichella could only manage to finish up at 19th and 20th on time sheet.

Tags: Formula One, Force India, Fernando Alonso, Brazilian GP

Force India retains Fisichella and Sutil

Force India's owner Vijay Mallya belives it was actually the VJM01 car that let down their drivers. He belives that his drivers Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil have the potential to make it to the podium and it was the car that let them down this season. Mallya belives that once the car is fixed his drivers should have no problems.

Tags: Formula one, Force india, Vijay mallya, Giancarlo Fisichella, Adrian Sutil

Gambhir banned for one Test

Indian opener Gautam Gambhir has been banned for one test by match refree Chris Broad after being found guilty for hitting the Aussie all rounder Shane Watson with his elbow. This means that Ghambir will be ruled out for the fourth and final test.

Shane Watson has been fined 10 percent of his match fee for verbally engaging with Gambhir in a manner which was not in keeping up the spirit of cricket.

Tags: Cricket, India Vs Australia, Shane Watson Vs Gambhir