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Mumbai, Feb 20: Mahendra Singh Dhoni outshone the likes of Adam Gilchrist and Muttiah Muralitharan as the Chennai franchise of the Indian Premier League (IPL) made a whopping USD 1.5 million bid (approximately Rs six crore) to win the Indian one day captain.
Dhoni was clearly the star of the first round bidding with the Chennai franchise making an aggressive bid for the flamboyant stumper-batsman.
The Hyderabad franchise won Gilchrist with a USD 700,000 (app Rs 2.8 crore) bid, less than half of what Dhoni managed.
The Chennai side also managed to rope in Sri Lankan off-spinner Muralitharan for USD 600,000 (Rs 2.4 crore).
Retired Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne was bought by Jaipur for USD 450, 000, while Mahela Jayawardene will be seen playing for the Mohali team, which shelled out USD 475,000 for the Sri Lankan captain.
Pakistan's enigmatic speedster Shoaib Akhtar was won by the Kolkata team for USD 425,000.
In the second round, Anil Kumble was bought by Bangalore franchisee for USD 500,000.
Players auctioned till now:
Player name Team Price (in USD)
MS Dhoni Chennai 1.5 million
Adam Gilchrist Hyderabad 700,000
Muttiah Muralitharan Chennai 600,000
Mahela Jayawardene Mohali 475,000
Shane Warne Jaipur 450,000
Shoaib Akhtar Kolkata 425,000
Anil Kumble Bangalore 500,000
Harbhajan Singh Mumbai 850,000
Sanath Jayasuriya Mumbai 975,000
Kumar Sangakkara Mohali 700,000