In what turned out to be one of the major embarrassments in his chequered career,Sourav Ganguly was left red-faced as none of the 10 franchises put his name up in the wish list for the second time after the first round of auctions ended. Similarly Chris Gayle,Brian Lara,Sanath Jayasuriya were all rejected during the first round and never came up for a second discussion. Only Mohammed Kaif turned out to be real lucky as he was finally snapped up by Royal Challengers Bangalore for USD 130,000 after being ignored twice. The real story of the day was Ganguly. Speculations were rife throughout the day that one of the franchises might just pick him once the unsold players are put up for the second time. To everyone's horror,among the 28 players who were re-auctioned at the request of the franchises,Ganguly's name didn't figure. It was Murali Karthik who turned out to be a gainer as he was bought by Sahara Pune Warriors at USD 400,000. There is every reason that the most successful Indian captain will feel insulted as he had prolonged his cricketing career only to play in the IPL. With franchises turning their backs on him,it is certainly one of the most ignominious end for the Prince of Kolkata. One of the realistic reason could be his base price of USD 400,000. By the time the re-auctions of the unsold players were held,it became clear that his old team KKR who had a purse of USD 425,000 won't bid for him. Ditto for Chennai Super Kings who had almost exhausted their purse with only USD 385,000 remaining. Everyone was looking forward to Sahara Pune Warriors a franchise with whom Ganguly has been linked for quite some time. However with three editions already over,even the new teams know how to get their economics right as most of them found it fit to spend the remaining money on uncapped domestic players who would form the core of the team.
