DHONI GETS ALL

Dhoni goes for 1.5m dollars, no takers for McGrath: Cricket Next: "Chennai Super Kings seized India skipper Mahendra Dhoni and Sri Lanka’s wily spinner Muttiah Muralitharan in the initial round of auction of players for the Indian Premiere League (IPL) here on Wednesday. Dhoni went for a whopping 1.5 million dollars (six crore rupees) while Murali was taken for 6,00,000 dollars in what seemed to be big gains for the team from southern India.

The IPL, which promises to take cricket to a different level, gave a glimpse of what to expect in the unique tournament that is scheduled to get underway about two months from now. Cine stars Shahrukh Khan and Preity Zinta, who own the Kolkata and Mohali teams, respectively, were among the bidders as the much awaited event commenced at a five star hotel.

Dhoni, the only top Indian player not to figure among the icon players (who are not up for bids and will play for their home teams) was a prime property and was lapped up in what was the highest bid in the first list of players and gave the team the big name that they missed because of not having an icon player.

Australian Adam Gilchrist was another star in the starting A list of players, who went for 7,00,000 to Hyderabad. Pakistani speedster Shoaib Akhtar was taken by the Kolkata team for 4,25,000 dollars, Aussie spin magician Shane W"