Out of the 353 players who went under the hammer in the 2015 Indian Premier League auction on Monday, only 68 cricketers were sold and the rest of the 285 found no bidders.
Here is a chart which maps all the buys during the auction:
How to read the chart?
Left side: Teams in descending order in terms of the money spent by them
Right side: Players in descending order in terms of the money spent to buy them
Size of each step/arm: More the money spent, thicker the step/arm
Five highlights from the chart:
1. Out of the first six highest buys, four belongs to Delhi Daredevils. They released many of their players and went in for a complete over-haul. They did this the last time too!
2. CSK, a team which has one of the best wicket-keepers in the world, bought two unknown keepers Ankush Bains and Eklavya Dwivedi. Weird!
3. RCB emerged as the best buyer in this IPL auction. Their batting department is glittering but they don't have star-rated bowlers. To neutralise that, this time around, they went for specialist bowlers Adam Milne and Sean Abbot and David Weise and Darren Sammy who can also swing their bats. Apart from this, Dinesh Karthik was a huge buy for them.
4. Sunrisers = England team. They bought Ravi Bopara, Eoin Morgan and Kevin Pietersen. Wonder what the Sunrisers will do if England calls them for national duty. Infact, England are playing 3 Test matches with West Indies in April.
5. Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals have never spent exorbitant amounts during auctions from the very first edition of the IPL. They did not loosen their purse strings this time as well.
4. Sunrisers = England team. They bought Ravi Bopara, Eoin Morgan and Kevin Pietersen. Wonder what the Sunrisers will do if England calls them for national duty. Infact, England are playing 3 Test matches with West Indies in April.
5. Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals have never spent exorbitant amounts during auctions from the very first edition of the IPL. They did not loosen their purse strings this time as well.