ipl auction

The IPL auction — as it happened

Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen both commanded record fees of $1.55m, and there were plenty of other Englishmen in demand
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MS Dhoni, IPL auction

Mahendra Singh Dhoni was the most expensive player in last year's auction, going for £1.03m. Photograph: R S Iyer/AP

5am: We've just been told that the hammer comes down in about 15 minutes. The buzz here is that JP Duminy will join KP and Andrew Flintoff in the millionaires club ...

John Buchanan just passed by with some other officials of the Kolkata Knight Riders. They were trying to find the venue. With the least funds and only one slot open they may have to settle for a lesser light. Perhaps one of the Bangladeshi stars.

The Bangalore owner, Vijay Mallya, is here. His team are likely to pull out all the stops to sign KP. That should leave Chennai, who have the most funds, to focus on Flintoff or Duminy.

5.25am: Shaun Tait has gone to the Rajasthan Royals for $375,000. Massive bids for Duminy – eventually he goes to the Mumbai Indians for $950,000. Next up is Freddie ...

5.30am: Freddie Flintoff goes to Chennai Super Kings for $1.55m. That's the highest fee ever paid for an IPL player. KP next!

5.31am: And Pietersen goes for $1.55m too, this time to Bangalore Royal Challengers! Both players have broken the record set last year by Mahendra Singh Dhoni!

5.55am: Vijay Mallya, talking about signing Kevin Pietersen: "I was very keen on getting KP. I'm very glad I got him for the price I paid."

When questioned on whether Pietersen could replace Rahul Dravid as captain, Mallya said: "Options are always open. For the moment he is a superb addition to our batting. I would have loved to have him for all six weeks. We obviously had a list, and KP was top.

"Everyone was spending their money," added Mallya. "I was keeping hold of my purse and I was prepared to pay more.

6am: Owais Shah goes to Delhi Daredevils for $250,000; and Paul Collingwood will be joining him – bought for $250,000 as well! Bangalore wanted Colly, but Delhi upped their bid ...

6.03am: N. Srinivasan, owner of Chennai Super Kings, on Andrew Flintoff: "He is an outstanding all-rounder who will improve the balance of our team." Asked about paying more for Flintoff than Dhoni, Srinivasan added: "It doesn't make any difference because it's an altogether different auction [this year]."

6.07am: More woe for the Aussies – Stuart Clark and Brad Haddin attract no bids. Neither does Chamara Kapugedera, but there's some good news for one of England's current opponents, Fidel Edwards. He's picked up by the Deccan Chargers for $150,000.

6.15am: Tyron Henderson, of Middlesex fame, has just gone to Rajasthan Royals for a whopping $650,000.

6.23am: Ravi Bopara to Kings XI Punjab for $450,000 – insane stuff!

6.26am: No such drama for Luke Wright, though, who goes unsold. Also left on the block are Phil Jacques, Ashwell Prince, Andre Nel and Nuwan Kulasekara.

6.36am: Thilan Thushara goes to Chennai for $140,000; Jesse Ryder to Bangalore for $160,000; and Kyle Mills to Mumbai for $150,000. There are only five slots left now, with five Englishmen snapped up to just one Aussie. How the mighty have fallen ... mind you, the Future Tours Programme doesn't help their cause.

6.52am: Samit Patel is unsold, as are Shakib Al Hasan, Morne Van Wyk, Jerome Taylor, Steven Smith, Ashley Noffke and Gulam Bodi. Dwayne Smith goes to Deccan Chargers for $100,000.

7.20am: No takers for Tamim Iqbal, Jonathan Moss, Bryce McGain, James Franklin, Aiden Blizzard, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Michael Klinger, Kaushalya Weeraratne, Prasana Jayawardene and Dominic Thornley. Mashrafe Mortaza is the subject of an extraordinary tug-of-war between Kolkata Knight Riders and Kings XI Punjab. He started at a reserve price of $50,000, and already the bids have topped $400,000 ...

7.27am: Mortaza to Kolkata for $600,000 – 12 times his base price. Unprecedented, and utter madness, if you ask me.

7.33am: Only two slots left. One each for Kings XI Punjab and Mumbai Indians. They've been asked to recommend three names each to wrap up proceeedings. Daniel Harris, Kemar Roach, Aaron Bird, Michael Dighton and Brett Geeves remain unsold. George Bailey goes to Chennai for $50,000.

7.48am: And that's that: the last two slots have been filled. Jerome Taylor went to Kings XI Punjab for $150,000, while Mohammad Ashraful was picked up by Mumbai Indians for $75,000.