IPL auction: Gambhir sold to KKR for $2.4 mn

Kolkata Knight Riders bought Gautam Gambhir and Yusuf Pathan for a whopping $2.4 million and $ 2.1 million as the player auction for the Season 4 of the Indian Premier League began in Bangalore.

The new IPL team Pune Warriors opened its account, buying Yuvraj Singh for $1.8 million (Rs 8.28 crore). Australian T20 captain Cameron White went ot Deccan Chargers for $1.1 million.

Royal Challengers Bangalore bought Zaheer Khan for USD 900,000 and AB de Villers for $1.1 million while Sri Lankan all-rounder Tillakaratne Dilshan was bagged by Vijay Mallya's Royal Challengers for $650,000.

Rajasthan Royals bought the services of New Zealand's Ross Taylor for $1 million while England's Kevin Pietersen went to Deccan Chargers for $650,000. Former West Indies captain Brian Lara and a number of England's Ashes heroes are among 350 players up for grabs at the auction in Bangalore on Saturday and Sunday.

Lara and England bowler James Anderson are among 21 cricketers with the highest reserve price of 400,000 dollars for a three-year contract, with the cash-rich Delhi and Mumbai teams likely to engage in a fierce bidding war.

Other foreign players on offer include Australians Adam Gilchrist and Brett Lee, South Africans Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis and New Zealand's Daniel Vettori. The tournament, to be held from April 8 to May 22, will feature 10 teams after Indian courts overturned the expulsion of the Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab.

Two new teams have joined the league: Kochi, who have also been involved in a nasty ownership squabble, and the Pune Warriors