The IPL auction has now become as unpredictable as any cricket match. You can’t be sure who will win millions and who will remain unsold.

The Saturday’s Indian Premier League (IPL)’s player auction was as exciting an affair as it could be expected with about Rs 200 crore at the disposal of the teams collectively. Australia’s ageing all-rounder Shane Watson emerged as the biggest draw with Rs 9.50 crore bid, while Yuvraj Singh was the costliest buy among the Indians at Rs 7 crore. Traditionally, Indian players had always been the top picks. For the past two years, Yuvraj had been the most expensive player, followed by Dinesh Karthik. Foreign players did figure among the costliest, but not as much as the Indian players. The 34-year-old Watson, who marked his return to form with a blazing century against India in the last T20, has set a new trend by triggering an intense bidding war among three franchises before Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) clinched the deal with the highest package so far. For Yuvraj, on the contrary, today’s bid was far less than the Rs 16 crore he had garnered in the last auction. Another surprising part was that Australia’s T20 captain Aaron Finch, New Zealand’s big-hitting batsman Martin Guptill, Australia’s former captain George Bailey, South African Hashim Amla, and retired players like Mahela Jayawardene, Michael Hussey and Brad Haddin went unsold. The IPL auction has now become as unpredictable as any cricket match. You can’t be sure who will win millions and who will remain unsold. But one thing is sure that the coporatisation of the IPL has made it more professional and popular.