No Lara takers was expected

We throw some questions to our expert Ayaz Memon, who was part of the IPL player auction's live coverage in Bangalore on Saturday

SUNDAY MiD DAY: Pre-auction talk revolved around Yusuf Pathan emerging as the biggest gainer. Although he was not too far behind Gautam Gambhir, was $2.4 million for Gambhir a surprise?

Ayaz Memon: I think Gambhir's bid by KKR took everyone by surprise and possibly caused some early panic in the other franchises, which is why some of the highest bids were made in the first two sessions eg Irfan Pathan, Rohit Sharma and Robin Uthappa. As the day progressed, the nerves became steadier and the bids cooled down a bit, though the final session still had some surprises like Ravindra Jadeja and Piyush Chawla for instance.
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SUNDAY MiD DAY: No takers for Sourav Ganguly. What would you put it down to? Age or troubles with KKR over the last two editions in particular?

Ayaz Memon: Age not beyond an extent for Shane Warne and Adam Gilchrist were ready picks, and finally even Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman found takers.

Sure, we saw some amount of lunacy and emotionalism in auction today, but there is an unmistakable, overriding ruthlessness with which franchises now approach the IPL. In Sourav's case, the big question would have been: what can he bring to the table?

Since KKR's track record has been dismal, he was unlikely to be considered for captaincy alone. And with so many younger players around, to go for somebody his age didn't make sense.

SUNDAY MiD DAY: Brian Lara didn't attract any bidders too. But what could he have brought to a team table at 41?

Ayaz Memon: I was expecting him to draw a blank. He hasn't played at all for almost three years, which is a long, long time. He's been a great player, but that is in the past and the past is a foreign country in the hard world of the IPL. Pure sentiment was never going to work. Lara would have been better off applying as a coach.

SUNDAY MiD DAY: Andrew Symonds and Bhajji in the same team shows that cricket has this knack of being a unifying factor. But could it also spell trouble in the Mumbai Indians camp considering their deep-rooted poor relationship?u00a0

Ayaz Memon: I don't see any trouble. Bhajji and Sreesanth, in fact had gotten physical with each other but now happily play in the same Indian dressing room. Time heals wounds, and makes people mature. Hopefully that is true of Bhajji and Symonds too.u00a0 In fact I see them forging a dangerous partnership for Mumbai Indians

SUNDAY MiD DAY: All teams don't have much funds left. Hence, how do you see the spending
procedure for Day Two?

Ayaz Memon: I think prudence will rule on the second day. Of the 60-odd million dollars at stake, more than 40 million has already been spent collectively by the 10 franchises for six-nine players each. Now comes the tough task of finding players who will provide balance and value-for-small money for all teams. The uncapped India and under-19 players will get their turn to be in the limelight now, if not make similar amounts of money.
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SUNDAY MiD DAY: Was it a smart move by KKR to rope in two high-priced players ufffd Gambhir and Pathan so early?

Ayaz Memon: In a sense, yes. Starting with a blank slate, they were hunting down 3-4 impact players as also a captain who was preferably an Indian. I think Gambhir and Yusuf were always on their radar, and then they picked up Kallis too. It was a terrific start to building a new team, but had to come at a cost.