Hyderabad stitches in the best team. Chennai comes a close second even as Kolkata squanders a good opportunity to rival the best. At the end of nine rounds of bidding for the 75 players, here is how the teams in the Indian Premier League stand, in order of the moey spent.
Hyderabad:
Hyderabad, which ended up as the highest spenders has the most balanced and dangerous looking team. At least on paper. The move to forgo the so-called iconic status to VVS Laxman seems to have paid off. It enabled the Deccan Chronicle-owned team to go ahead and invest big.
The team went ahead and secured what is easily the most destructive top order by rounding off Adam Gilchrist, Herschelle Gibbs and Shahid Afridi. It also has some mean hands in VVS Laxman, Rohit Sharma and Chamara Silva, making it the best batting line up in the league.
That doesn't mean it neglected the bowling department. It got for itself the left-arm seam trio of Chaminda Vaas, RP Singh and Nuwan Zoysa. All-rounders Scott Styris and star buy Andrew Symonds perfectly round it off for the team, lending a much wanted balance.
The fact that this was the only team that did not dip its fingers in the reserve pie, speaks volumes about the planning and timing that had gone behind assembling the best mix. If we are to stick our neck out and guess the champion, we would put our money on Hyderabad.
Spent: $5.885 milllion
On: 11 players
Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds, Herschelle Gibbs, Shahid Afridi, Scott Styris, Rohit Sharma, VVS Laxman, Chamara Silva, Nuwan Zoysa, Chaminda Vaas, RP Singh.
Chennai:
Chennai, which spent only a few hundred thousand dollars less than Hyderabad, also has a very strong line-up.
Though nowhere close to the Hyderabad line-up, Stephen Fleming, Matthew Hayden and Mahendra Singh Dhoni can nevertheless destroy any attack on their given day. Suresh Raina's potential and the all-rounder duo of Jacob Oram and Albie Morkel, who can turn a match on its head with either bat or ball, lend stability to the team.
Makhaya Ntini and Muttiah Muralitharan can be a handful for any batting line up and Joginder Singh brings in all his luck, charm and guile that were instrumental in India's Twenty20 World Cup win.
They also managed to poach Mike Hussey, who surprisingly no one wanted in the initial round.
Spent: $5.825 million
For: 11 players
MS Dhoni, Muttiah Muralitharan, Matthew Hayden, Jacob Oram, Stephen Fleming, Mike Hussey, Parthiv Patel, Albie Morkel, Joginder Singh, Suresh Raina, Makhaya Ntini
Kolkata:
All was going well for Kolkata and SRK.
And then he went and bought Ajit Agarkar. His subsequent buys -- Umar Gul, David Hussey and Murali Kartik somehow seem to have skewed his side's balance. And add to it, the erratic Shoaib Akthar and things do not look well at all for the team.
However, a line up reading Saurav Ganguly, Chris Gayle, Ricky Ponting, Brendon McCullum can leave even the deadliest bowling attacks licking their wounds. And then there is the latest kid on the block Ishant Sharma. But what will he be able to do on a day when Akthar decides to wander off?
Spent: $5.05 million
For: 11 players (Saurav Ganguly not counted)
Shoaib Akthar, Ricky Ponting, Brendon McCullum, Chris Gayle, Ajit Agarkar, David Hussey, Ishant Sharma, Umar Gul, Murali Kartik, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Tatenda Taibu
Delhi:
Delhi, who seemed to be taking increasingly long toilet breaks as each round of bidding went past them, are left with a team that is neither here nor there.
Yes, Gautam Gambhir is a proven Twenty20 match winner. Yes, they have the maverick Virender Sehwag and the classy AB de Villiers. But beyond that and the presence of Daniel Vettori and Glenn McGrath, there is nothing to show for a core assembled at $4.8 million.
Spent: 4.825
For: 9 (minus Virender Sehwag)
Daniel Vettori, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Asif, Dinesh Karthik, AB de Villiers, Ferveez Maharoof, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Gautam Gambhir, Manoj Tiwary, Glenn McGrath.
Mohali:
There was something about the way Mohali went about selecting their team.
They had Yuvraj Singh to start with. Then they picked Mahela Jayawardene and Kumara Sangakkara. They spiced it up with S Sreesanth and Brett Lee. They brought in balance with Irfan Pathan, though it will remain to be seen if he is worth almost a million.
But after that, they put their feet up and went to sleep as the rest of the teams went berserk in the bowlers round. They could have picked better support bowlers instead of Piyush Chawla and Romesh Powar. One positive though. This might be the best-looking team of them all.
Spent: 4.62
For: 9 players (Yuvraj not included)
Mahela Jayawardene, Kumara Sangakkara, Brett Lee, S Sreesanth, Irfan Pathan, Piyush Chawla, Romesh Powar, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Simon Katich.
Mumbai:
The most expensive franchise to lay hands on also happens to be the most insipid among the heavyweights. An opening combination reading Sachin Tendulkar - Sanath Jayasuriya is sure mouthwatering. But what after that.
Robin Uthappa is the only exciting prospect. And, with all due respect to Shaun Pollock, this bowling attack is not going to skittle out a bully batting line up like Hyderabad's or Chennai's. Though Lasith Malinga is definitely one player to watch out for.
Spent: 3.825
For: 7 players + (Sachin not included)
Robin Uthappa, Shaun Pollock, Harbhajan Singh, Sanath Jayasurya, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando, Loots Bosman.
Bangalore:
For a meager 3.6 million, this is a real good deal in terms of value for money. Dr Vijay Mallya has lined up a bowling attack best suited for Twenty20.
And then there is the exciting Mark Boucher. But there is just one glitch here. A very serious one. If a few early wickets fall, the last pair of names we want to see flashing on the giant electronic scoreboard in a Twenty20 match is Rahul Dravid - Jacques Kallis.
And then, in a cunning move, the team went ahead and bought Aussie discard Cameron White for five times his base price.
Spent: 3.8
For: 9 (Dravid not included)
Anil Kumble, Jacques Kallis, Zaheer Khan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Mark Boucher, Cameron White, Wasim Jaffer, Nathan Bracken, Dale Steyn.
Jaipur:
Before bidding began, this was the least of the teams. Eight labourious hours and $2.5 million later, it still is the least of the teams.
Shane Warne, past his prime, was pouched for his base price in the very first round. But that was about it. And oh, just what must have went through the mind of the person who bid for kaif at $675,000 (base price: $175,000) when the hammer fell!
2.7 million
7 players
Shane Warne, Graeme Smith, Younis Khan, Kamran Akmal, Yusuf Pathan, Mohammad Kaif, Munaf Patel, Justin Langer.
(Two players, Mohd Yousuf and Ashwell Prince, remained unsold)