In one of the major embarrassments of his chequered career, former India, Bengal and Knight Riders captain Sourav Ganguly was left red-faced as none of the 10 franchises put his name up in the wish list for the second round after the first round of auctions ended here today.
Like Ganguly, southpaws Chris Gayle, Brian Lara, and Sanath Jayasuriya were all rejected during the first round and never came up for a second discussion.
Mohammed Kaif, however, got lucky as he was finally snapped up by Royal Challengers Bangalore for $130,000 (Rs59.8 lakh) after being ignored not once but twice.
But the real story of the day was Ganguly. Speculation was rife throughout the day that one of the franchises just might pick him when the unsold players were put up for auction for a second time.
To everyone's horror, however, Ganguly's name did not figure among the 29 players who were re-auctioned at the request of the franchises.
It was left-arm spinner Murali Karthik, Ganguly's teammate in the earlier Knight Riders team, who turned out to be the gainer as he was bought by Sahara Pune Warriors for $400,000 (Rs1.84 crore) after being ignored the first time around.
The result must be intensely disappointing for Ganguly because he had prolonged his cricketing career only to play in the IPL.
With the franchises turning their backs on him, it is an ignominous end for the so-called Prince of Calcutta.
One reason could have been his base price of $400,000 (Rs1.84 crore). By the time the re-auctions of unsold players were conducted, it became clear that his old team KKR, who had $425,000 left in the kitty, would not bid for him.
Chennai Super Kings had also nearly exhausted their purse with only $385,000 left.
Everyone was looking forward to the Sahara Pune Warriors — a franchise with whom Ganguly had been linked for quite some time — to rescue the former India captain.
But with three editions of the IPL over, even the new teams know how to get their economics right. Most of them found it fit to spend the remaining money on uncapped domestic players who would form the core of the team.
