20 Jan 2010

Shane Bond attracts top dollar

7:00 am on 20 January 2010

The New Zealand fast bowler Shane Bond was one of the biggest buys in the Indian Premier League player auction overnight in Mumbai, snapped up by the Kolkata Knight Riders for just over one million dollars.

The Deccan Chargers were also chasing Bond with the Knight Riders entering the bidding at $866,000 before the teams submitted secret bids, with Kolkata bidding an undisclosed amount.

Bond. who recently quit Test cricket to focus on the shorter forms of the game, saw his value rise the most, from a base price of $135,000.

He and Keiron Pollard were thebig attractions with the West Indies allrounder Keiron Pollard also topping the cap of $1.1 million.

But the other New Zealanders in the auction, Lou Vincent, Grant Elliott and Nathan McCullum. missed out.

So did all the Pakistani players, although Pakistan are the wolrld champions in the shortest form of the game and most of the winning team was up for auction.