All is not lost for IPL unsolds: Modi

Former Indian Premier League chief Lalit Modi stressed on Twitter that all is not lost for the likes of Sourav Ganguly, Brian Lara and Chris Gayle, who were not picked up for a high price when their name came up for bidding at the IPL auction on Saturday.

"Unsold Players come back at the end for rebidding so it's not over yet. Still another day to go," wrote Modi. In other tweets, he said: "Great start for IPL 4. All teams have bought well. Auction process shows true value for Players. Looks like the Two New Teams will be extremely competitive too."

According to a Board of Control for Cricket in India press release, "at the start of Day Two (Sunday), the franchises will have a remaining cumulative salary cap of $19.5 million. This is to be used both in the auction room, and to sign uncapped Indian players after the auction.

Eighteen Indian players remain available for sale in the auction on Day Two, and the franchises have the possibility of taking up to 53 overseas players. That is a maximum of 71 players, if all franchises do take their full allocation of overseas players."

No takers for Ashes hero
Ganguly, Lara and Gayle have several players for company. Surprisingly, no teamu00a0 bid for England pace ace James Anderson, who played a key role in their recent Ashes triumph. Even off-spinner Graeme Swann went unsold. South African wicketkeeper batsman Mark Boucher had no takers too, so did the controversial Herschelle Gibbs and Kiwis Jesse Ryder.