Bollywood's presence was made up with Preity Zinta, the co-owner of King's XI Punjab, and Shilpa Shetty, who is part of the Rajasthan Royals stakeholders. Mr Vijay Mallya, United Breweries Chief and owner of Royal Challengers Bangalore, was present as also Ms Nita Ambani, owner of Mumbai Indians.
It was good to see Preity Zinta and Ness Wadia discuss things together and at the same time IPL III got SRK and Sourav Ganguly together again!
West Indian all-rounder Kieron Pollard and New Zealand's Shane Bond bagged the highest bids when they hit the upper limit of $750,000.Chennai Super Kings recalled South African hard-hitter Justin Kemp by paying USD 100,000 and also bought emerging Sri Lankan batsman Thisara Perera for USD 50,000. Mohammed Kaif went unsold in the first round but was later taken by Kings XI Punjab for USD 2,50,000. Kings XI also recalled South African pacer Yusuf Abdullah.
Royal Challengers Bangalore bought Eoin Morgan of England for $220,000 while veteran Australian cricketer Damien Martyn was picked up by Rajasthan Royals for his base price of $100,000.As stated earlier South African Yousuf Abdullah and Australian Adam Voges were bought by Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals for their base price of $50,000 each.
Shilpa Shetty justified her decision to opt for Damien Martyn saying that the team was going by captain Shane Warne's direction.
Preity Zinta's Kings XI Punjab spent $300,000 while Mr Vijay Mallya's Bangalore Royal Challengers shelled out $220,000. Shilpa Shetty's Rajasthan Royals spent just $150,000. India Cement-owned Chennai Super Kings ended up being the least spender, putting in just $100,000.
