Paul Valthaty was an unknown name to the millions of cricket fans in India who follow the game very closely till a few days ago. He was included in the Kings XI Punjab team this year but many thought he got his chances in team as there were hardly any established stars in the Punjab team. His overall statistics were also not impressive without even a single first class match, only one List A match and a few T20 matches including a few appearances for Rajasthan Royals in the previous IPL seasons where he hardly scored anything noticeable. So, when Kings XI Punjab faced the defending champions of IPL Chennai Super Kings on April 13, 2011 hardly anybody had any expectations from either Kings XI Punjab or Paul Valthaty and it was expected to be an easy win for CSK. Put to bat first by Gilchrist, Chennai set the Kings XI Punjab a mammoth target of 189 runs to win from 20 overs. But then rose Paul Valthaty who single-handedly took the game away from Chennai as he scored a blazing 120 runs in merely 63 balls. His shots were not just slogs but pure cricketing shots as he became only the fifth Indian to score a century in the IPL. But there were still many who doubted that it might have been just an one-off lucky day for the 27 year old unknown entity who had just rose to national prominence. But a few cricket fans with open ears heard him say in the post match presentation that he got hurt during the 2002 U-19 world cup and his career went for a downhill since then and he was still trying to recover from it. Just three days later on April 16, Kings XI Punjab faced another team Deccan Chargers who had some of the fastest bowlers in the tournament in Dale Steyn and the reinvigorated Ishant Sharma. There was another surprise in stock as Kings XI captain Adam Gilchrist suddenly trusted him with the ball though he had hardly bowled in IPL previously. And he once again rose to the occasion and proved to the bowler with a magic arm as he scalped 4 Chargers wickets for 29 runs as he bowled his full quota of 4 overs. But then that was not what most people were waiting for … can he perform the magic again with the bat ??? But he did not disappoint at all as he scored another blazing innings of 75 runs in just 47 balls as he took the team to victory again and this time with an all round performance to receive his second consecutive Man of the Match award. He has become a household name in all the cricket crazy families of India and proved himself twice at T20 level. But he has got a good footwork and almost all shots in his book to become a successful player though time would tell if he can become one.

Let us now diagnose as to how he emerged suddenly at this level and that at an age of 27 years and why did he not play Indian domestic cricket for all these years. According to former Indian captain Dilip Vengsarkar recollected the day when as an 11-year-old, Paul Valthaty entered his academy calling himself a medium pacer. The boy thought he had settled in well and a stint at the Vengsarkar Academy was just about the right beginning. “It was after five days that I realized that it was not his bowling that was impressive, but his talent with the willow,” said Vengsarkar. Valthaty was stocky, compact and showed a lot of promise. The cricketing great was heading the BCCI’s Talent Research Development Wing (TRDW), and he certainly had an exceptional eye for talent, especially at the junior level. “He showed a lot of confidence in my batting and it sure lifted my spirits,” Valthaty recalled. Then Valthaty was spotted through his big-scoring exploits for Don Bosco School in both the Giles and Harris Shield, and subsequently, he went on to represent Podar College in Central Mumbai, where he was a B.Com student. Cricket, then took over and impressive show in the Vijay Merchant Trophy (national U-16s) for two consecutive seasons, with a follow up in the Cooch Behar Trophy (national U-19s) for Mumbai. So, it was not a surprise that the talented teenager was selected to represent India at the 2002 Under-19 World Cup with the likes of Irfan Pathan and Parthiv Patel. But misfortune struck soon as fate had something else in store for the young lad. On a tour to New Zealand, while opening the batting for India in a game against Bangladesh U-19s, Valthaty was batting on 5, when he was hit on the face (right eye to be precise) by a bouncer from pacer Shafaq Al Zabir and subsequently taken to the hospital and that’s when his progress was halted, and delayed. For the next year or two, his vision was a little disturbed and it was after that injury that Valthaty reportedly lost momentum. Thus, Valthaty’s much cherished dream of pursuing the game suffered a rude shock. He played one one-dayer for Mumbai, but failed to make the cut for West Zone. He was also picked up by Rajasthan Royals but could not catch the eyes of the Royals team management in the few chances he got. So, as he mentioned in the post match interview after his century it was a dream come true for him and a dream of making it to the national limelight through his game came true after a long wait of 15 years.

However, in Mumbai circles, Valthaty is said to be a T20 legend, known from his early days for his ability to thump the ball as hard as anyone else, so much so that he’s made the format his own, both in the club and domestic circles for Mumbai. Abhishek Nayar, his close friend and team-mate from Mumbai and Kings XI Punjab told Yahoo! Cricket, “Paul is pretty much a T20 specialist in Mumbai, and his track record in the past two-three years in almost every tournament in that format tells you that he’s done extremely well. Even in the Mumbai Cricket Association T20 Championship in 2009/10 (where Valthaty represented Payyade Sports Club), he was adjudged the player of the tournament.” Nayar added, “It was really heartening to see him do well, given the fact that he’s seen almost all his peers make it big for Mumbai in all formats.” And even as Valthaty was the quintessential journeyman in the IPL circuit if you like, having previously represented the Mumbai and Rajasthan franchises respectively, it was on Nayar’s recommendation that the Kings XI Punjab decided to rope in Valthaty. “After I got picked by Kings XI Punjab, I had a talk with the franchise about giving Paul an opportunity to play for them, and since the past two months, he’s been training really hard and the result is here to see. I am very happy for what he achieved today,” Nayar said.

Many would also argue that Valthaty might have been a Mumbai cricketer born at a wrong time, given that he’s unlikely to break into the first Ranji XI anytime soon — given the strength and class of that batting order, and a faint recognition that First Class cricket might never quite be his cup of tea. But nonetheless he has achieved which very few cricketers have achieved within the span of a few days and hope that he can continue his great and prove himself in all formats of cricket very soon. We wish him luck and hope he climbs the ladder of success very fast.

CREDIT:

This article has been created by collecting information from various sources including

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/cricket/ipl-2011/news/Dream-fulfilled-after-15-years-for-Paul-Valthaty/articleshow/7977183.cms

and

http://blogs.cricket.yahoo.com/posts/2011/04/the-fall-rise-of-paul-valthaty/

All the 10 teams participating in IPL 2011 Season 4 including the two new entrants Sahara Pune Warriors and Kochi Tuskers Kerala have announced their final list of players in their respective teams. Out of the teams, Sahara Pune Warriors is the only team to have registered their full quota of 30 players in the squad. Delhi Daredevils were also close behind with 29 players while Kochi Tuskers Kerala, Deccan Chargers and Rajasthan Royals named 27 players each in their final squads. Royal Challengers Bangalore listed 25 players and Kings XI Punjab 23 players. Kolkata Knight Riders named the least number of players amongst all the franchisees as they went ahead with only 20 players including 7 foreign players.

In terms of spending, Mumbai Indians were left with only $1739 from their $9 million purse after all their player purchases. Rajasthan Royals were the only franchisee to exhaust their full purse while Deccan Chargers had the maximum amount left of $1.49 million after their player purchases followed by KXIP who had $1.46 million (approx) left.

Here are the full squads of the various IPL teams for IPL 4:

Chennai Super Kings (24): Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Murali Vijay, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Subramanium Badrinath, Joginder Sharma, Sudeep Tyagi, Abhinav Mukund, Aniruddha Shrikant, Ganapathi Vignesh, K Vasudevdas, Shadb Jakati, Vijaykumar Yomahesh, (Foreign) Albie Morkel, Michael Hussey, Dwayne Bravo, Doug Bollinger, Scott Styris, Ben Hilfenhaus, Nuwan Kulasekera, Suraj Randiv, George Bailey, Faf du Plessis

Mumbai Indians (23): Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh, Rohit Sharma, Munaf Patel, Abu Nechim Ahmed, Aditya Tare, Ali Murtuza, Ambati Rayudu, Dhawal Kulkarni, Pawan Suyal, Rajagopal Sathish, Surul Kanwar, Surya Kumar Yadav, T Suman, Yazvendra Singh Chahal (Foreign) Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, Andrew Symonds, Davy Jacobs, James FRanklin, Moises Henriques, Alden Blizzard, Dilhara Fernando

Kolkata Knight Riders (20): Gautam Gambhir, Yusuf Pathan, Manoj Tiwary, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Jaidev Unadkat, Iqbal Abdulla, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Manvinder Singh Bisla, Pradeep Sangwan, Rajat Bhatia, Sarabjit Ladda, Shami Ahmed, Shreevats Goswami (Foreign) Jacques Kallis, Brad Haddin, Shakib Al Hassan, Brett Lee, Eoin Morgan, Ryan ten Doeschate, James Pattinson.

Sahara Pune Warriors (30): Yuvraj Singh, Robin Uthappa, Ashish Nehra, Murali Kartik, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Bhuvenshwar Kumar, Dheeraj Jadhav, Ekalavya Dwivedi, Ganesh Gaikwad, Harpreet Singh Bhatia, Harshad Khadiwale, Kamran Khan, Manish Pandey, Mithun Manhas, Mohnish MIshra, Rahul Sharma, Sachin Rana, Shrikant Wagh, Shrikant Mundhe, Imtiyaz Ahmed (Foreign) Graeme Smith, Tim Paine, Angelo Mathews, Nathan McCullum, Callum Ferguson, Wayne Parnell, Mitchell Marsh, Jerome Taylor, Alfonso Thomas, Jesse Ryder

Kochi Tuskers Kerala (27): VVS Laxman, S Sreesanth, RP Singh, Parthiv Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Ramesh Powar, R Vinay Kumar, B Akhil, Chandan Madan, Deepak Chowghule, Kedar Jadhav, Raiphi Gomez, Sushant Marathe, Tanmay Srivastava, Y Gnanswara Rao, Yashpal Singh, Prashant Padmanabahan, (Foreign) Mahela Jayawardene, Brendon McCullum, Steven Smith, Muttiah Muralitharan, Brad Hodge, Thisara Perera, Steve O’Keefe, Owais Shah, Michael Klinger, John Hastings

Royal Challengers Bangalore (25): Virat Kohli, Zaheer Khan, Saurabh Tiwary, Cheteshwar Pujara, Abhimanyu Mithun, Mohammed Kaif, Arun Karthik, CM Gautham, Abrar Kazi, Mayank Agarwal, Bharath Narayan, Raju Bhatkal, Sreenath Aravind, Ryan Ninan, Asad Khan Pathan, (Foreign) Tillekratne Dilshan, AB de Villiers, Daniel Vettori, Dirk Nannes, Charl Langeveldt, LUke Pomersbach, Johan van der Wath, Rilee Rossouw, Nuwan Pradeep, Jonathan Vandiar

Rajasthan Royals (27): Rahul Dravid, Pankaj Singh, Aakash Chopra, Abhishek Raut, Aditya Dole, Ajinkya Rahane, Amit Paunikar, Ashok Menaria, Deepak Chahar, Dishant Yagnik, Faiz Fazal, Nayan Doshi, Pinal Shah, Samad Fallah, Siddharth Trivedi, Stuart Binny, Amit Singh, Dinesh Salunkhe, Swapnil Asnodkar, Sumit Narwal, Ankeet Chavan (Foreign) Shane Warne, Shane Watson, Ross Taylor, Johan BOtha, Paul Collingwood, Shaun Tait

Deccan Chargers (27): Shikhar Dhawan, Ishant Sharma, Pragyan Ojha, Amit Mishra, Manpreet Gony, Akash Bhandari, Anand Rajan, Ankit Nagendra, Arjun Yadav, Ashish Reddy, Bharat Chipli, DB Ravi Teja, Harmeet Singh Bansal, Ishank Jaggi, Ishan Malhotra, Jaydev Shah, Kedar Devdhar, Sunny Sohal (Foreign) Kevin Pietersen, Cameron White, Kumar Sangakkara, JP Duminy, Dale Steyn, Daniel Christian, Chris Lynn, Juan Theron, Michael Lumb

Kings XI Punjab (23): Dinesh Karthik, Abhishek Nayar, Praveen Kumar, Piyush Chawla, Bhargav Bhatt, Bipul Sharma, Love Ablish, Mandeep Singh, Nitin Saini, Paras Dogra, Paul Valthaty, Shalabh Srivastava, Siddharth Chitnis, Sunny Singh, Vikramjeet Malik, Amit Yadav (Foreign) Adam Gilchrist, Shaun Marsh, David Hussey, Stuart Broad, Ryan Harris, Dimitri Masceranhas, Nathan Remington.

Delhi Daredevils (29): Virender Sehwag, Irfan Pathan, Naman Ojha, Ajit Agarkar, Ashok Dinda, Umesh Yadav, Venugopal Rao, Aavishkar Salvi, Prashant Naik, Rajesh Pawar, Robin Bist, S Sriram, Tejashwi Yadav, Unmukt Chand, Varun Aaron, Vikash Mishra, Vivek Yadav, Yogesh Nagar, Shahbaz Nadeem (Foreign) David Warner, James Hopes, Morne Morkel, Aaron Finch, Mathew Wade, Roloef van der Merwe, Andrew McDonald, Travis Birt, Collin Ingram, Robert Frylinck.

April 8: 8pm – Chennai Super Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Chennai.

April 9: 4pm – Deccan Chargers vs Rajasthan Royals in Hyderabad. 8pm – Kochi Tuskers Kerala vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Kochi.

April 10: 4pm – Delhi Daredevils vs Mumbai Indians in Delhi. 8pm – Pune Warriors vs Kings XI Punjab in Navi Mumbai.

April 11: 8pm – Kolkata Knight Riders vs Deccan Chargers in Kolkata.

April 12: 4pm – Rajasthan Royals vs Delhi Daredevils in Jaipur. 8pm – Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Mumbai Indians in Bangalore.

April 13: 4pm – Kings XI Punjab vs Chennai Super Kings in Mohali. 8pm – Pune Warriors vs Kochi Tuskers Kerala in Navi Mumbai.

April 14: 8pm – Deccan Chargers vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Hyderabad.

April 15: 4pm – Rajasthan Royals vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Jaipur. 8pm – Mumbai Indians vs Kochi Tuskers Kerala in Mumbai.

April 16: 4pm – Chennai Super Kings vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Chennai. 8pm – Deccan Chargers vs Kings XI Punjab in Hyderabad.

April 17: 4pm – Pune Warriors vs Delhi Daredevils in Navi Mumbai. 8pm – Kolkata Knight Riders vs Rajasthan Royals in Kolkata.

April 18: 8pm – Kochi Tuskers Kerala vs Chennai Super Kings in Kochi.

April 19: 4pm – Delhi Daredevils vs Deccan Chargers in Delhi. 8pm – Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Rajasthan Royals in Bangalore.

April 20: 4pm – Mumbai Indians vs Pune Warriors in Mumbai. 8pm – Kolkata Knight Riders vs Kochi Tuskers Kerala in Kolkata.

April 21: 8pm – Kings XI Punjab vs Rajasthan Royals in Mohali.

April 22: 4pm – Kolkata Knight Riders vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Kolkata. 8pm – Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings in Mumbai.

April 23: 8pm – Delhi Daredevils vs Kings XI Punjab in Delhi.

April 24: 4pm – Deccan Chargers vs Mumbai Indians in Hyderabad. 8pm – Rajasthan Royals vs Kochi Tuskers Kerala in Jaipur.

April 25: 8pm – Chennai Super Kings vs Pune Warriors in Chennai.

April 26: 8pm – Delhi Daredevils vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Delhi.

April 27: 4pm – Pune Warriors vs Chennai Super Kings in Navi Mumbai. 8pm – Kochi Tuskers Kerala vs Deccan Chargers in Kochi.

April 28: 8pm – Delhi Daredevils vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Delhi.

April 29: 4pm – Rajasthan Royals vs Mumbai Indians in Jaipur. 8pm – Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Pune Warriors in Bangalore.

April 30: 4pm – Kochi Tuskers Kerala vs Delhi Daredevils in Kochi. 8pm – Kolkata Knight Riders vs Kings XI Punjab in Kolkata.

May 1: 4pm – Rajasthan Royals vs Pune Warriors in Jaipur. 8pm – Chennai Super Kings vs Deccan Chargers in Chennai.

May 2: 4pm – Mumbai Indians vs Kings XI Punjab in Mumbai. 8pm – Delhi Daredevils vs Kochi Tuskers Kerala in Delhi.

May 3: 8pm – Deccan Chargers vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Hyderabad.

May 4: 4pm – Chennai Super Kings vs Rajasthan Royals in Chennai. 8pm – Pune Warriors vs Mumbai Indians in Navi Mumbai.

May 5: 4pm – Kochi Tuskers Kerala vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Kochi. 8pm – Deccan Chargers vs Delhi Daredevils in Hyderabad.

May 6: 8pm – Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kings XI Punjab in Bangalore.

May 7: 4pm – Kolkata Knight Riders vs Chennai Super Kings in Kolkata. 8pm – Mumbai Indians vs Delhi Daredevils in Mumbai.

May 8: 4pm – Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kochi Tuskers Kerala in Bangalore. 8pm – Kings XI Punjab vs Pune Warriors in Mohali.

May 9: 8pm – Rajasthan Royals vs Chennai Super Kings in Jaipur.

May 10: 4pm – Deccan Chargers vs Pune Warriors in Hyderabad. 8pm – Kings XI Punjab vs Mumbai Indians in Mohali.

May 11: 8pm – Rajasthan Royals vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Jaipur.

May 12: 8pm – Chennai Super Kings vs Delhi Daredevils in Chennai.

May 13: 8pm – Kochi Tuskers Kerala vs Kings XI Punjab in Indore.

May 14: 4pm – Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Bangalore. 8pm – Mumbai Indians vs Deccan Chargers in Mumbai.

May 15: 4pm – Kings XI Punjab vs Delhi Daredevils in Dharamsala. 8pm – Kochi Tuskers Kerala vs Rajasthan Royals in Indore.

May 16: 8pm – Pune Warriors vs Deccan Chargers in Navi Mumbai.

May 17: 8pm – Kings XI Punjab vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Dharamsala.

May 18: 8pm – Chennai Super Kings vs Kochi Tuskers Kerala in Chennai.

May 19: 8pm – Pune Warriors vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Navi Mumbai.

May 20: 8pm – Mumbai Indians vs Rajasthan Royals in Mumbai.

May 21: 4pm – Kings XI Punjab vs Deccan Chargers in Dharamsala. 8pm – Delhi Daredevils vs Pune Warriors in Delhi.

May 22: 4pm – Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Chennai Super Kings in Bangalore. 8pm – Kolkata Knight Riders vs Mumbai Indians in Kolkata.

May 24: 8pm – Qualifier 1: First Placed Team vs Second Placed Team in Mumbai.

May 25: 8pm – Eliminator: Third Placed Team vs Fourth Placed Team in Mumbai.

May 27: 8pm – Qualifier 2: Winner of Eliminator vs Loser of Qualifier 1 in Chennai.

May 28: 8pm – Final: Winner of Qualifier 1 vs Winner of Qualifier 2 in Chennai.

Delhi Daredevils

Irfan Pathan to Delhi Daredevils for $1.9 million.
Virender Sehwag retained by Delhi Daredevils for 1.8 million.
Umesh Yadav to Delhi for $750,000.
David Warner to Delhi Daredevils for $750,000.
Venugopal Rao to Delhi Daredevils for $700,000.
Morne Morkel to Delhi Daredevils for $475,000.
Ashok Dinda to Delhi Daredevils for $375,000.
James Hopes to Delhi Daredevils for $350,000.
Aaron Finch to Delhi Daredevils for $300,000.
Naman Ojha to Delhi Daredevils for $270,000.
Ajit Agarkar to Delhi Daredvils for $210,000.
Matthew Wade to Delhi Daredevils for $100,000.
Colin Ingram to Delhi Daredevils for $100,000.
Andrew McDonald to Delhi Daredevils for $80,000.
Roelof van der Merwe to Delhi Daredevils for $50,000.
Travis Birt to Delhi Daredevils for $20,000.
Robert Frylinck to Delhi Daredevils for $20,000.

Mumbai Indians

Rohit Sharma to Mumbai Indians for $2 million.
Sachin Tendulkar retained by Mumbai Indians for $1.8 million.
Harbhajan Singh retained by Mumbai Indians for $1.3 million.
Kieron Pollard retained by Mumbai Indians for $900,000.
Andrew Symonds to Mumbai Indians for $850,000.
Munaf Patel to Mumbai Indians for $700,000.
Lasith Malinga retained by Mumbai Indians for $500,000.
Davy Jacobs to Mumbai Indians for $190,000.
Clint McKay to Mumbai Indians for $110,000.
James Franklin to Mumbai Indians for $100,000.
Moises Henriques to Mumbai Indians for $50,000.
Aiden Blizzard to Mumbai Indians for $20,000.

Kolkata Knight Riders

Gautam Gambhir sold to Kolkata Knight Riders for a record $2.4 million.
Yusuf Pathan to Kolkata Knight Riders for $2.1 million.
Jacques Kallis to Kolkata Knight Riders for $1.1 million.
Lakshmipathy Balaji to Kolkata Knight Riders for $500,000.
Manoj Tiwary to Kolkata Knight Riders for $475,000.
Shakib al Hasan to Kolkata Knight Riders for $425,000.
Brett Lee to Kolkata Knight Riders for $400,000.
Eoin Morgan to Kolkata Knight Riders for $350,000.
Brad Haddin goes to Kolkata Knight Riders for $325,000.
Jaidev Unadkat to Kolkata Knight Riders for $250,000.
Ryan ten Doeschate to Kolkata Knight Riders for $150,000.
James Pattinson to Kolkata Knight Riders for $100,000.

Chennai Super Kings

MS Dhoni retained by Chennai Super Kings for $1.8 million.
Suresh Raina retained by Chennai Super Kings for $1.3 million.
M Vijay retained by Chennai Super Kings for $900,000.
R Ashwin to Chennai Super Kings for $850,000.
S Badrinath to Chennai Super Kings for $800,000.
Doug Bollinger to Chennai Super Kings for $700,000.
Albie Morkel retained by Chennai Super Kings for $500,000.
Michael Hussey to Chennai Super Kings for $425,000.
Sudeep Tyagi to Chennai Super Kings for $240,000.
Scott Styris to Chennai Super Kings for $200,000.
Dwayne Bravo to Chennai Super Kings at $200,000.
Joginder Sharma to Chennai Super Kings for $150,000.
Faf du Plessis to Chennai Super Kings for $120,000.
Nuwan Kulasekara to Chennai Super Kings for $100,000
Ben Hilfenhaus to Chennai Super Kings for $100,000.
Wriddhiman Saha to Chennai Super Kings for $100,000.
Suraj Randiv to Chennai Super Kings for $80,000.
George Bailey to Chennai Super Kings for $50,000.

Deccan Chargers

Dale Steyn goes to Deccan Chargers for $1.2 million.
Cameron White to Deccan Chargers for $1.1 million.
Dan Christian to Deccan Chargers for $900,000.
Kumar Sangakkara to Deccan Chargers for $700,000.
Kevin Pietersen to Deccan Chargers for $650,000.
Pragyan Ojha to Deccan Chargers for $500,000.
Ishant Sharma to Deccan Chargers for $450,000.
Amit Mishra to Deccan Chargers for $300,000.
Shikhar Dhawan to Deccan Chargers for $300,000.
JP Duminy to Deccan Chargers for $300,000.
Manpreet Gony to Deccan Chargers for $290,000.
Rusty Theron to Deccan Charges for $85,000.
Michael Lumb to Deccan Chargers for $80,000.
Chris Lynn to Deccan Chargers for $20,000.

Sahara Pune Warriors

Robin Uthappa to Pune for $2.1 million.
Yuvraj Singh to Pune for $1.8 million.
Angelo Mathews to Pune for $950,000.
Ashish Nehra to Pune for $850,000.
Graeme Smith to Pune for $500,000.
Murli Kartik to Pune for $400,000.
Callum Ferguson to Pune for $300,000.
Mitchell Marsh to Pune for $290,000.
Tim Paine to Pune for $270,000.
Wayne Parnell to Pune for $160,000.
Jesse Ryder to Pune for $150,000.
Jerome Taylor to Pune for $100,000.
Alfonso Thomas to Pune for $100,000.
Nathan McCullum to Pune for $100,000.

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Virat Kohli retained by Royal Challengers Bangalore for $1.8 million.
Saurabh Tiwary to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $1.6 million.
AB de Villiers to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $1.1 million.
Zaheer Khan to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $900,000.
Cheteswar Pujara to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $700,000.
Dirk Nannes to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $650,000.
Tillakaratne Dilshan to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $650,000.
Daniel Vettori to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $550,000.
Abhimanyu Mithun to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $260,000.
Charl Langeveldt to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $140,000.
Mohammad Kaif to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $130,000.
Johan van der Wath to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $50,000.
Luke Pomersbach to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $50,000.
Rilee Rossouw to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $20,000.
Nuwan Pradeep to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $20,000.
Jonathan Vandiar to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $20,000.

Rajasthan Royals

Shane Warne retained by Rajasthan Royals for $1.8 million.
Shane Watson retained by Rajasthan Royals for $1.3 million.
Ross Taylor to Rajasthan Royals for $1 million.
Johan Botha to Rajasthan Royals for $950,000.
Rahul Dravid to Rajasthan Royals for $500,000.
Shaun Tait to Rajasthan Royals for $300,000.
Paul Collingwood to Rajasthan Royals for $250,000.
Pankaj Singh to Rajasthan Royals for $95,000.

Kings XI Punjab

David Hussey to Kings XI Punjab for $1.4 million
Dinesh Karthik to Kings XI Punjab for $900,000.
Piyush Chawla to Kings XI Punjab for $900,000.
Adam Gilchrist to Kings XI Punjab for $900,000.
Praveen Kumar to Kings XI Punjab for $800,000.
Abhishek Nayar to Kings XI Punjab for $800,000.
Stuart Broad to Kings XI Punjab for $400,000.
Ryan Harris to Kings XI Punjab for $325,000.
Dimitri Mascarenhas to Kings XI Punjab for $100,000.
Nathan Rimmington to Kings XI Punjab for $20,000.

Kochi

Mahela Jayawardene to Kochi for $1.5 million.
Muttiah Muralitharan to Kochi for $1.1 million.
Ravindra Jadeja to Kochi for $950,000.
Sreesanth to Kochi for $900,000.
RP Singh to Kochi for $500,000.
R Vinay Kumar to Kochi for $475,000.
Brendon McCullum to Kochi for $475,000.
Brad Hodge to Kochi for $425,000.
VVS Laxman to Kochi for $400,000.
Parthiv Patel to Kochi for $290,000.
Owais Shah to Kochi for $200,000.
Steven Smith to Kochi for $200,000.
Ramesh Powar to Kochi for $180,000.
Thisara Perera to Kochi for $80,000.
Michael Klinger to Kochi for $75,000.
Steven O’Keefe to Kochi for $20,000

NOTE: This is the not the final team compositions of the IPL teams and there is no auction for uncapped Indian domestic players like Manish Pandey and Ambati Rayudu who would be contracted later on.

The auction starts with a lottery by Chirayu Amin who picks up Gautam Gambhir as the first player to be auctioned.

The bidding is intense and it has already reached 2.2 million dollars now for Gambhir. Phew. Finally Gautam Gambhir sold for 2.4 million dollars by Kolkata Knight Riders.

Second auction is for Dilshan. $600,000 bid till now and bidding again going on aggressively. Royal Challengers Bangalore purchases Dilshan for $650,000. That seems to be a good pick.

Zaheer Khan is the next auctions. Bidding going on aggressively again. Royal Challengers Bangalore purchases him for $900,000 USD.

Ross Taylor enters the auctions now. Royal Challengers Bangalore purchases him for $1 million.

Yusuf Pathan enters the auction now. He is bought by Kolkata Knight Riders for $2.1 million.

Kevin Pietersen enters the auction now. Deccan Chargers purchases him for $650,000.

Mahela Jayawardena enters the auction now. Kochi purchases Jayawardena for $1.5 million.

Yuvi enters the auction now. Auction becomes very aggressive again. 1 million already for Yuvi till now and bidding going on aggressively. Yuvraj Singh goes for 1.8 million to Sahara Pune Warriors. Their first purchase and a good purchase at that.

A B De Villiers enters the auction now. A B De Villiers goes to RCB for 1.1 million. Royal Challengers Bangalore seems to on a buying spree and have made most of the purchases in the first session.

There is a 15 minutes break now.

Break over. Ganguly enters the bidding now. Nobody bids for Dada and he goes unsold.

Cameron White enters the auction now. The new Australian T20 captain is also getting some aggressive bidding. Deccan Chargers purchases Cameron White for $1.1 million.

Jacques Kallis enters the auction now. Kolkata Knight Riders purchases Kallis for $1.1 million.

Rohit Sharma enters the auction now. Bidding going on aggressively and it has already reached 1.1 million. Mumbai Indians purchases Rohit Sharma for 2 million. That might have been too aggressive.

Andrew Symonds enters the auction now. Symonds seeing some aggressive bidding between Mumbai and Pune. Mumbai Indians purchases Andrew Symonds for $800,000.

Kumar Sangakkara enters the auction now. Deccan Chargers purchases Sangakkara for $700,000.

Adam Gilchrist enters the auction now. Nobody was bidding initially and it almost seemed he will go unsold. Bidding gradually picking up. Kings XI Punjab purchases him for $900,000.

Rahul Dravid enters the auction now. Another long silence and no bidding till now for Dravid. Rajasthan Royals starts with base price of $400,000. Rajasthan Royals purchases Rahul Dravid for $500,000.

Graeme Smith enters the auction now. After a long wait at last a starting bid from Pune with base price of $400K for Smith. Sahara Pune Warriors purchases Graeme Smith for $500,000.

Robin Uthappa enters the auction now. Aggressive bidding going now and already reaches $1.2 million. Sahara Pune Warriors purchases Robin Uthappa for $2.1 million. Phew. That was huge.

Johan Botha enters the auction now. Rajasthan Royals purchases Johan Botha for $950,000.

VVS Laxman enters the auction now. After a long wait Kochi finally bids base price of $400,000. Kochi purchases VVS Laxman for $400,000.

Daniel Vettori enters the auction now. Again a long wait. Surprising as Vettori is a valuable player and an allrounder. Royal Challengers Bangalore purchases Daniel Vettori for $550,000.

Brendon McCullum enters the auction now. Kochi purchases Brendon McCullum for $475,000. A good pick for sure.

Sreesanth enters the auction now. Very aggressive bidding. Kochi purchases their local boy Sreesanth for $900,000.

Chris Gayle enters the auction now. Again a surprising and long wait for a quality T20 batsman. Chris Gayle goes unsold.

Irfan Pathan enters the auction now. Aggressive bidding for Irfan too. Deccan and Punjab in the final bidding wars after CSK left. Delhi enters the fray at $1.1 million. Delhi Daredevils purchases Irfan Pathan for $1.9 million.

R P Singh enters the auction now. Kochi purchases R P Singh for $500,000.

Lunch Break now.

Lunch Break over now. The auction will start in a few minutes.

Jesse Ryder enters the auction now. Ryder goes unsold.

Herschelle Gibbs enters the auction and also goes unsold.

Michael Hussey enters the auction now. Chennai Superkings purchase him for $425,000.

Shaun Marsh enters the auction now. Kings XI Punjab purchases him for $400,000.

J P Duminy enters the auction now. Deccan Chargers purchases J P Duminy for $300,000.

Shikhar Dhawan enters the auction now. Deccan Chargers purchases Shikhar Dhawan for $300,000.

Saurabh Tiwary enters the auction now. Aggressive bidding going for Tiwary. Royal Challengers Bangalore purchases Saurabh Tiwary for $1.6 million. A bid of controversy there as Mallya was not happy with the auction getting reopened.

David Hussey enters the auction. King XI Punjab purchases David Hussey for $1.4 million.

David Warner enters the auction and Delhi Daredevil purchases him for $750,000.

Brian Lara goes unsold.

Graham Manou enters the auction and goes unsold too.

Parthiv Patel enters the auction and Kochi purchases him for $290,000.

Wriddhiman Saha goes to Chennai Superkings at base price of $100,000.

Dinesh Karthik enters the auction and Kings XI Punjab purchases him for $900,000.

Naman Ojha enters the auction and Delhi Daredevils purchases him for $250,000.

Brad Haddin enters the auction now. Kolkata Knight Riders purchases Brad Haddin for $325,000.

Tim Paine enters the auction. Another wicketkeeper and all the wicketkeeper seems to be in good demand. Sahara Pune Warriors purchases Tim Paine for $270,000.

Another wicketkeeper Matt Prior enters the auction now. Matt Prior remains unsold.

Mark Boucher enters the auction now. Mark Boucher remains unsold and it is very surprising indeed.

South African wicketkeeper David Jacobs enters the auction now. Mumbai Indians purchases him for $190,000.

That is the end of wicketkeepers.

James Hopes enters the auction now. Delhi Daredevils purchases him for $350,000 after some aggressive bidding involving Mumbai Indians.

Ravindra Jadeja enters the auction now. Kochi purchases Ravindra Jadeja for $950,000.

Bangladesh captain and all rounder Shakib Al Hasan enters the auction now. Some aggressive bidding going on for him too between KKR and Pune. Kolkata Knight Riders purchases him for $425,000. A very good pick for sure.

Stuart Broad enters the auction now. Kings XI Punjab purchases him for $400,000.

Abhishek Nayyar enters the auction now. King XI Punjab purchases Nayyar for $800,000.

Angelo Matthews enters the auction now. Sahara Pune Warriors purchases him for $950,000.

Dwayne Bravo enters the auction now. Chennai Superkings purchases Dwayne Bravo at base price of $200,000.

Steven Smith enters the auction. Kochi purchases Steven Smith for $200,000.

James Franklin up next. Mumbai Indians purchases him at base price of $100,000.

30 minutes tea break now.

Break over. Bowlers to be auctioned now.

Dilhara Fernando enters the auction but goes unsold.

James Anderson enters the auction now. James Anderson also goes unsold.

Ishant Sharma enters the auction now. Ishant Sharma gets sold to Deccan Chargers for $450,000.

Praveen Kumar enters the auction. King XI Punjab purchases Praveen Kumar for $800,000.

Ashish Nehra up next. Sahara Pune Warriors purchases Ashish Nehra for $850,000.

Brett Lee up next. Kolkata Knight Riders purchases Brett Lee at the base price of $400,000.

Morne Morkel up next. Delhi and Deccan are bidding for him aggressively. Royal Challengers also enters into the bidding and now its Delhi vs RCB. Delhi Daredevils finally purchases Morne Morkel for $475,000.

Dale Steyn up next. Aggressive bidding going on for Steyn as expected. Deccan Chargers purchases Dale Steyn for $1.2 million. The most expensive specialist bowler till now including all Indian bowlers.

Ryan Harris up next. Kings XI Punjab purchases Ryan Harris for $325,000.

IPL hero for Daredevils Dirk Nannes up next. Royal Challengers Bangalore purchases Dirk Nannes for $650,000.

Doug Bollingers enters the auction now. Aggressive bidding between CSK and Kochi for Nannes. Doug Bollinger will play for Chennai Superkings once again as he is picked up by them for $700,000.

Spin bowlers up next.

The master of spin Mutiah Muralitharan enters the auction. Bidding war going between Chennai and Pune for Muralitharan. Kochi also enters the fray. The bidding was has now shifted to CSK vs Kochi and it has already crossed 1 million. Kochi purchases Mutiah Muralitharan for $1.1 million.

Grame Swann goes unsold. Another surprise though it might have to do with availability.

Piyush Chawla up next. Bidding war goes off again and has crossed 700K already. Piyush Chawla will play for Kings XI Punjab this year too as they grab him for $900,000.

R Ashwin enters the auction and aggressive bidding already reaches 600K within seconds. Chennai Superkings purchases Ashwin for $850,000 and he will play for them again.

Ajantha Mendis up next. Mendis goes unsold.

Pragyan Ojha up next. Deccan Chargers involved in bidding wars at first with CSK and then with Delhi to get him back in team colors. Deccan Charges purchases Pragyan Ojha for $500,000.

Murali Karthik up next. No bids and Murali Kartik goes unsold which is quite surprising.

Amit Mishra enters the auction now. Bidding war between Deccan and Mallya for Mishra. Pune enters the fray at 290K. Deccan Chargers finally grabs Amit Mishra for $300,000.

The other McCullum brother Nathan McCullum up next. Sahara Pune Warriors purchases Nathan McCullum at the base price of $100,000 and that is almost a steal at that price for a good allrounder.

Ramesh Powar up next and the last in this set. Kochi purchases Romesh Powar for $180,000.

Kapugedera up next. No bids and he goes unsold.

Aaron Finch up next. Delhi Daredevils pick up Aaron Finch for $300,000.

Eoin Morgan up next. Kolkata Knight Riders purchases Eoin Morgan for $350,000.

Brad Hodge enters the auction now. Kochi purchases Hodge for $425,000.

Tanim Iqbal up next but goes unsold.

Callum Ferguson up next. Sahara Pune Warriors purchases Callum Ferguson for $300,000.

Manoj Tiwary up next. Kolkata Knight Riders retain him in team colors as they pick Manoj Tiwary for $475,000.

Cheteswar Pujara up next. Royal Challengers Bangalore purchases Cheteswar Pujara for $700,000.

Subramanium Badrinath enters the auction now. Aggressive bidding on its way already. Chennai Superkings purchases Badrinath for $800,000 and retain him in team colors.

Paul Collingwood up next. Rajasthan Royals purchases Paul Collingwood for $250,000.

Dan Christian to Deccan Chargers for $900,000

Alfonso Thomas to Pune for $100,000

Rilee Rossouw sold to Bangalore at $20,000

Bangalore buy Nuwan Pradeep at base price of $20,000

Deccan Chargers buy Chris Lynn at base price of $20,000.

Chennai Super Kings buy Faf du Plessis at $120,000

Now the wishlist of unsold players are being submitted.

Jesse Ryder of New Zealand first player to out from unsold list. Sahara Pune Warriors purchases Jesse Ryder for $150,000.

Sahara Pune Warriors purchases Murali Kartik for $400,000 after a bidding war with Rajasthan Royals.

Juan Rusty Theron sold to Deccan Chargers for $85,000.

Travis Birt sold to Delhi Daredevils for $20,000.

Dmitri Mascarenhas sold to Kings XI Punjab for $100,000.

Jonathan Vandair sold to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $20,000.

Moises Henriques purchased by Mumbai Indians for $50,000

Delhi Daredevils purchases Colin Ingram for $100,000.

Deccan Chargers purchases Michael Lumb for $80,000.

Kings XI Punjab purchases Nathan Rimmington for $20,000.

Mumbai Indians purchases Adrian Blizzard for $20,000.

Delhi Daredevils purchases Robert Frylinck for $20,000.

Royal Challengers Bangalore purchases Mohammed Kaif for $130,000.

That is all in the auctions.

That is all for today. Quite a lot of surprises as well as good picks for the day and hope that it will be more interesting tomorrow when the auction continues at 11 AM Indian time.

350 players will go under the hammer in IPL auctions on Saturday and Sunday at Bangalore. All the 10 teams including the two new IPL teams Sahara Pune Warriors and Kochi will try to grab the players. Each team has been allotted a total of 9 million dollars for spending on the players auctions as well as uncapped domestic players. Chennai Superkings have retained M S Dhoni, M Vijay, Suresh Raina and Albie Morkel (South Africa) while Mumbai Indians have also retained all the four players Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh, Lasith Malinga (Sri Lanka) and Kieron Pollard (West Indies). So, these teams will effectively have only 4.5 million dollars left in their purse. Rajasthan Royals has retained Shane Warne (Australia) and Shane Watson (Australia) leaving them with USD 5.9 million available to spend. Delhi Daredevils and Royal Challengers Bangalore have retained only player in Virender Sehwag and Virat Kohli respectively enabling them to have a balance of 7.2 million dollars available. Deccan Chargers, Kolkata Knight Riders and Kings XI Punjab have not retained any players and will have the complete 9 million available for purchase alongwith the two new franchisees. Many new faces including cricketing legends such as Brian Lara would be available for purchase at the auction which will be conducted by professional auctioneer Richard Madley, from England, who has conducted each of the previous IPL player auctions too. However, a few players like Matthew Hayden, Glenn McGrath, Shane Bond and Anil Kumble who played previous editions of IPL has decided to give the auctions a miss due to personal reasons. The first round of auctions would be for the players with the highest base price of $400,000 followed by second round with players with base price of $300,000 and then with $200,000 and $100,000 base price and so on. The two day auction would start at 10 A.M. Indian time tomorrow and will be broadcast live on Set Max.

Players with base price of $400,000 are:

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

Players with base price of $300,000 are:

Yusuf Pathan, Zaheer Khan, VVS Laxman, Jacques Kallis, Muttiah Muralitharan, Andrew Symonds, Cameron White, David Hussey, Shaun Tait, Kumar Sangakkara, Angelo Mathews, Simon James Cook and Steven Davies.

Players with base price of $200,000 are:

Gautam Gambhir, Irfan Pathan, Ashish Nehra, Sreesanth, Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik, RP Singh, Robin Uthappa, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Murali Karthik, Pragyan Ojha, Shakib Al Hasan, Michael Hussey, James Hopes, Brad Haddin, Brad Hodge, Doug Bollinger, Callum Ferguson, Ryan Harris, Peter Siddle, David Warner, Steven Smith, Dirk Nannes, Paul Collingwood, Owais Shah, Matt Prior, Ravi Bopara, Eoin Morgan, Ryan Sidebottom, Jonathan Trott, Joe Denly, Ajmal Shahzad, Tim Bresnan, Kyle Mills, Jacob Oram, Herschelle Gibbs, Mark Boucher, J P Duminy, Johan Botha, Dale Steyn, Sanath Jayasuriya, Ajantha Mendis, Dwayne Bravo and Darren Stevens.

Some Prominent Players with base price of $100,000 are:

Tamim Iqbal, Mortaza, R Ashwin, Morne Morkel, Dwayne Smith, Chanderpaul, Sarwan, Vaas, Fernando, Tharanga, Maharoof, Morne Morkel, Charl Langeveldt, Ntini, Kemp, Wayne Parnell, Ryan McLaren, Nathan McCullum, Time Southee, Scott Styris, Surabh Tiwary, Pujara, Vinay Kumar, Shikhar Dhawan, Badrinath, Parthiv Patel, Amit Mishra, Ravindra Jadeja, Munaf Patel, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Ian Bell, Sajid Mahmood, Ben Hilfenhaus, Philip Hughes, Adam Voges, Simon Katich and Tim Paine.

To view the complete list of players with base prices and details check this pdf.

NOTE: Domestic Indian uncapped players are not in the auction as they will be be available only after the IPL instructs them later. The domestic players have been broken down in to three categories, depending on how much first-class cricket they have played. The lowest tier of players can sign for Rs 10 lakhs (US$21,500) per year, the middle tier for Rs 20 lakhs ($43,000) and the top tier – those who have played at least five seasons of Ranji Trophy – will be paid Rs 30 lakhs ($64,500) per year.

Former Australian Batsman Michael Bevan has been appointed as the new coach of Kings XI Punjab while his fellow countryman and former fast bowler Geoff Lawson has been appointed as the head coach of Kochi IPL team. Bevan replaces another Australian Tom Moody as the coach of the Kings XI team. Punjab finished at the bottom of the league last year and would hope a change of fortunes with the new coach. Kochi would hope that Lawson can provide them the required expertise and help them a mark in their first year itself at the Indian Premier League. Both the coaches are expected to be physically presented in the auction to be held in Bangalore on Saturday and Sunday.

Here are three of the top choices for watching IPL 3 live and legally onlline:

1. Youtube: IPL took a revolutionary step by making a deal with Youtube wherein people all around the world can watch IPL 3 free on the world’s most popular streaming website Youtube. But it will be streamed 5 minutes delayed on Youtube in India which sounds quite fair as it is broadcast live on TV in Set Max channel. You can watch all matches of IPL 3 live on the official IPL youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/ipl

2. TV Catchup: TV Cathup is only useful for users in the United Kingdom and does not work in other locations. You can watch various UK channels including ITV4 where IPL season 3 will be broadcast live. You can register and watch IPL on ITV4 if you are in the UK.

3. Willow TV: Willow TV is also a very good cricket streaming website for nearly all big cricketing events. They provide good streaming but the only downside is that they are a paid service.

So, please watch cricket and IPL at official and legal streams and enjoy the cricket extravaganza.

There are three main websites to buy the IPL tickets online:

1. Ticket Genie: Ticket Genie is being used by the official IPL website, the franchisee websites etc. it seems.

2. Book My Show: BookMyShow is also selling IPL 3 tickets online and they are the most popular online booking website in India. So, you can expect the booking and whole system to be quite smooth as they have been in the booking business (especially movie booking) for several years now. In BookMyShow, they are providing both booking of stadium tickets as well as IPL in cinema tickets it seems. They are also selling IPL and teams merchandise on their website.

3. Kyazoonga: I am not sure if normal stadium tickets would be available in Kyazoonga but they selling IPL in cinemas tickets on their website.

So, If you want to watch live in the stadium, you can book the “Sabse Bada Ticket” using the above websites. Aapne Khareeda Kya?