Llorne Howell - Sports blogger Former cricket international for the Black Caps, Llorne Howell, gives his views on New Zealand's number one summer sport, both for the Bay and the national team.

Hello from New Delhi.

I have just spent a very enjoyable three hours watching the build up to the IPL auction, and the full auction on TV. India has about four dedicated cricket channels and a numerous number of 'Re-union” type cricket shows.

The day I arrived there was TV coverage of U19s, Australia v Pakistan, SA v Eng, corporate Twenty20 and highlights of former matches. If NZ had one billion people you can imagine the hype around the AB's and rugby. This is what cricket is like here. It is the same passion Kiwis have for the All Blacks but with 250 times the population.

To say the IPL auction is a big event is probably an understatement. When IPL chairman Lalit Modi, team owners and celebrities arrived at the auction it was breaking news across news channels. Being advertised for days everyone knew about it so I had got myself ready to experience it in front of the box.

Lalit Modi was shown on TV arriving at the event and walking inside, similar to royalty.

This year's auction followed a slightly different format as there were only 12 spots available as most players were signed in year one to their three year deals. Next year all those deals will come due so there will be many more slots in teams to bid for.

Each player in the auction had a base price that must be bid for if he was to make the league. If there were no bids he was simply passed up. This happened to most players in this auction. Bond had a base of US$100,000, Afridi $250,000 and Lou Vincent $20,000.

There was a maximum amount a player in this auction could receive per season (45 days). This is due to the salary cap for each team. The cap was US$750,000.

The eight teams bid for each player. If the auction reached $750,000 with more than one team still in the running they then had to go to a secret tie breaker ballot where they wrote a bid over that amount. The highest bid won the player. The extra money above the $750,000 goes to the IPL. This keeps the team's salary cap intact.

The first player off the block was Afridi. He got not a single bid at US$250,000.

Keiron Pollard from the WI was next. Four teams wanted his signature. They all bid to $750,000 so they had to have the secret tie breaker ballot. All four wrote out their amounts and handed them to IPL chairman Modi. Mumbai won the player. No one knows what that amount was. It stays between the IPL and the owners.

Shane Bond was fourth off the list. His base price was $100,000 which meant a single bid at this price would obtain his services.

He went much higher as Kolkata and the Deccan Chargers fought for him. They both wanted quicks for this season.

It ended up in the tie breaker situation again. A five min break is given for the remaining bidders to write their total bid amount. Kolkata must have bid higher in the secret ballot so won Bond for their team. Sourav Ganguly was at the auction for Kolkata so he must have had some say with the owners. From his days with India he knows how good Shane can be.

"Shane is available for the full season as he is not available for other forms of cricket so this is good for us and we think his body is in good shape talking to his trainers," says the Kolkata Knightriders owner.
So even though it was gut wrenching for Shane to retire from test cricket he has just made himself a multi-millionaire. He would never have got this contract if he was available for NZ.

One of the scary things for world cricket is that the owners are all saying they want guys who are available. They want to win so want to keep the team together and not have disruptions to the flow of the team.

Bond will now receive US$750,000 per year for the next three years of the IPL. This is approximately NZ$1,012,500 per season, so his contract for three years is worth about NZ$3 million. This is for 45 days per year.

Grant Elliot was also in the auction at a base of $100,000 but did not get a bid.

The Rajasthan Royals who are captained and coached by Shane Warne got the best deals. Shilpa Shetty, a massive Bollywood star is their owner and she bought Damian Martyn for $100,000 and Adam Boges for $50,000. That is $150,000 for two very good players. Warne had said to her they were the two he wanted.

Notably there were 11 Pakistanis in the auction and not a single bid for any.

People I spoke to about this said that after the Mumbai terror attacks the government refused entry to India to any Pakistani. Hence they said the Pakistanis would never have been selected by the teams. The Pakistanis are now up in arms on TV in India about this.

They also say that Ricky Ponting made a faux pas with an important person in Indian cricket at a presentation, so it was made sure he did not get what he was worth at auction two years ago.

This season the IPL is back in India and the people cant wait. New merchandising and promotions are increasing the value and hype of the whole event. It should be fun to see how the top players go in this, the toughest league in the world.