Hi Everyone

I have been following the bidding and I have read some of your posts. Here is my take. Dhoni being the most expensive non icon player makes sense. If you look at the rules of the IPL, only 4 foreigners may play in the starting 11. This means that players from India will always be more expensive. Also, being a wicketkeeper has also contributed to his high price. Lets now forget that he is a great striker of the cricket ball.

Andrew Symonds, IMO pulled a fast one. While I think that he is the most dangerous T20 player in the world, I think that his intention to pull out of the Pakistan tour (thus making him available for the entire tournament unlike Ponting, Hayden and M. Hussey) is the main reason for his over inflated price. I have a sneaky suspicion that the franchise owner were aware of his intensions. However, I still think that Symonds will be forced to tour and thus making him the worst buy in the competition. Also, people claiming that White is a better T20 player are deeply mistaken. What has White done in international cricket. Nothing, D Hussey is a better player IMO. I think that White is another over-hyped Aussie.

If Symonds tours Pakistan, then I would consider him the worst buy. But if he plays the whole competition, then Harbhajan surely has to be the worst buy.

Best buys IMO are Styris (although his current poor form and age probably led to his low price), AB de Villiers(can keep wicket as well) and Umar Gul.

Poor buys. Brett Lee, Kallis( way too expensive as he is not a good T20 player ), Mohammed Kaif and Tiwary.

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434, world record for the shortest period. Whos choking now?

Well, how will you then justify ricky ponting(400,000) being sold for less than people like Murli Kartik(425,000). And scott styris for only 175,000.

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"They look like a team destined to win the world cup"......
Ian Chappel during Ind v SA in the World Cup 20-20

Ponting has to be cheaper because he is not going to be available for all the games. It would be silly to pay big money for player who will only play a few matches. As for Styris, like I pointed out earlier, he is in very poor form and he is quite old too. However, I do think that he may be the best "bargain" buy. But if he takes his current form into the IPL then $175, 000 may be expensive

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434, world record for the shortest period. Whos choking now?

Am i the only one who doesn't actually care about this jamboree?

Roll on May when the proper stuff starts in England.

Come on Greg, be a sport. Since there is no "real" cricket going on at the moment, at least this gives us a topic to debate on. I actually find this interesting. I am surprised that Rachael has not closed this thread already

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434, world record for the shortest period. Whos choking now?

Hi wilyoldfox
i guess gibbs fan answered your question(i fully agree with gibbs fan's predictions)on ponting's lower price

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Heat Sucks-Red Death

Steal of the bids : Scott styris for 175 k
OMG why did i put so much on this guy: HarbhajanWeakest team on paper: Jaipur
Strongest team on paper: Hyd
Surprises:
ponting bought at base price
Worth every penny of it
Dhoni

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Tendulkar - A gift to the game of cricket

u r spot on tendlya
harbhajan one of the most over hyped player of recent times
part time spinners of sehwag is way too better than harbhajan flatter no variation offspin
i don't understand why to spend so much money on player like bhaji instead mumbai franchise should have opted for some multi skilled player
also selection of BUTTER FINGERS parthiv patel in my home team makes me even more upset with the bidding process(ab de villiers would have been a gr8 choice)

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Heat Sucks-Red Death

I'm with you Greg, I couldn't care less about a 2020 comp on the other side of the world which doesn't carry any meaning. It's really only a cash cow for the BCCI and a knee-jerk reaction to the IPL.

Which funnily enough has just signed 37 year old former NZ wicket keeper and extremely poor runner Adam Parore, can't quite work out why a team would do that but they did.

On what basis can it be called a cash cow for BCCI alone when it is mutually beneficial to players and organizers.
This is just the first leg of a league. Let it flourish.

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Tendulkar - A gift to the game of cricket