Yuvraj Singh

Sydney: Yuvraj Singh, an ‘icon’ player in the Indian Premier League, is shocked at the low price Australian captain Ricky Ponting has commanded in the landmark auction.

“Surprised? Shocked is a better word for it. One of the world’s best players has gone for only $400,000. But may be it was thought he was going to Pakistan so he wouldn’t be available,” said Yuvraj.

On what could be the reason behind Andrew Symonds proving to be the second most expensive player at the auction, Yuvraj felt the allround ability of the allrounder might have tilted the scales in his favour.

“Symonds is an allrounder, he can hit big, clear the stadium and that perhaps could have helped in his bid,” he said.

Yuvraj, who scored a cracking 76 to help India secure a nail-biting win over Sri Lanka in the last game, said he was happy to have commanded a million-dollar plus price in the auction.

“I had a decent Twenty20 World Cup so I guess I deserved the price,” said Yuvraj, the captain of Mohali team.

Meanwhile, Symonds admitted he did not expect to land a staggering $1.35 million deal. Symonds shares a stormy relation with the Indian crowd and was subjected to monkey chants when Australia toured India for a one day series last year.

Things subsequently turned worse in the Sydney Test where Symonds accused Harbhajan Singh of racially abusing him.

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.”

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’s just the way things turned out,” Symonds was quoted as saying. He also refused to call himself a cricket mercenary.

Comparing the IPL to the 1970s World Series Cricket, Brett Lee said the Twenty20 venture has created history in the game. “I think it’s definitely history. If we look back in 10 years time this is going to be a massive landmark in cricket I think. It’s a bit like when the WSC started,” Lee was quoted as saying.

“It’s completely different from Test, completely different from ODIs,” Lee said. (Agencies)