Symonds stunned by IPL offer

New Delhi:

The eighth team owners of the IPL knew what they were doing, when they doled out the moolah to rope in the big names of international cricket, but one man who is totally puzzled by the entire exercise and says he cannot see a pattern to it all is Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds.

The Queenslander was left stunned by the price he fetched at the Indian Premier League (IPL) player auction.

Symonds went for $1.35 million to Hyderabad in the over-10-hour auction in Mumbai Wednesday, which was well above the price paid for any other Australian player. He is second only to India's one-day captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni ($1.5 million).

By contrast, Australian captain Ricky Ponting went for $400,000. Brett Lee was the second most expensive Australian at $900,000 and Symonds said he could not work out why his price was so much higher than other Australian players.

Quite amused by the deal, Symonds said, "If I could tell you why that would probably be quite a good news story, but there is no sort of logical sense to what each player's worth... I can't see a pattern."

Incidentally, his captain Ricky Ponting went for much less, $400,000, to Kolkata, while Brett Lee, arguably the most popular Australian cricketer in India, managed $900,000 from the Mohali team.

Symonds admitted he had no clue as to what drove the bidders and could offer no explanation for the huge difference between his deal and that of Ponting.

"That's quiet amazing how that's unfolded. Unfortunately it's got nothing to do with me but that just the way things turned out," Symonds was quoted as saying by 'Herald Sun'.

He also refused to call himself a cricket mercenary.

Asked if he felt like a cricket mercenary, he said: "That's what they offered to pay for me, I didn't ask for it."

Sourav happy with team

The Kolkata team spent the maximum amount in buying a team in the Indian Premier League, that of Rs 23.8 crore and captain Sourav Ganguly says he is happy with his team.

"We have got the team that we wanted. It went according to our plan," says Sourav.

Asked if he should have picked more batsmen in his side, the former India captain says, "No, how many batsmen do you need in a Twenty20 game?"

Says Yuvraj Singh, "I'm very happy. I've got a good bowling unit. Players are very happy, especially, the younger players with the way the auction has gone. We were following it closely. We're looking forward to the tournament."

What Team India players say

Some Team India players spoke to NDTV in Australia and said they were happy with the money they had landed in their kitty after the auction and also with the auction procedure.