Franchise owners spent lavishly in a player auction Wednesday for the new Indian Premier League, with India’s Mahendra Singh Dhoni topping the bidding on a day that demonstrated the enormous financial power of the Twenty20 competition.Bidding for the 77 available players reached about $40 million - pending late bids at Wednesday’s auction - and followed on from the $1.026 billion paid for the initial television rights and $723.6 million for franchise ownership.
Chennai trumped Mumbai in the race for India’s limited-overs captain Dhoni, with all team owners cheering the breaking of the $1 million mark as the southern Indian team landed him on a three-year contract worth $1.5 million or €1.02 million per season.
Dhoni, currently leading India in the limited-overs tri-series in Australia, was relaxed about being the most sought player for the league which begins April 18.
“I heard about it from my manager soon after the bid was held. The sum seems to be good and I’m happy, but I was never in any sort of tension about it, nor was I losing sleep over it,” Dhoni was quotes as saying by the Hindustan Times website.
Article Source : Premier League Cricket
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