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It seems that even a close friendship with Bollywood icon Shah Rukh Khan wasn’t good enough to help Pakistan’s pace star Shoaib Akhtar become one of IPL’s million-dollar men.

At 33, Shoaib still claims to be the world’s fastest bowler and the fact he made some of India’s finest batters uneasy during last year’s tour means he has managed to retained some of the sting that once made him international cricket’s most dangerous pacer.

Off the field, Shoaib has the sort of charisma that puts the media in frenzy wherever he goes, especially in cricket-mad India. He has a rock-star image, has a massive fan following and is one of the most sought-after cricketers when it comes to endorsing products.

But still, Shoaib failed to even make the list of the twenty most expensive players at the IPL auction in Mumbai on Wednesday, fetching a mere US$425,000 for a stint with SRK’s Kolkata. It’s a big sum according to cricketing standards but is just a little more than one-fourth of what MS Dhoni will get (US$1.5 million) while featuring for Chennai.

Shoaib was not the only Pakistani star snubbed by auctioneers in Mumbai.Former Pakistan captain Younis Khan, regarded among the world’s most prolific batsmen, failed to impress the franchisees. None of them opted to bid for him and finally it was Jaipur, which picked him for a base price of US$225,000.

Mohammad Yousuf, who broke the record of the highest number of Test runs in a calendar year in 2006, was snatched away by the IPL from rival Indian Cricket League (ICL) last year. But the star Pakistani batsman was disposed of in the reserve pool after none of the bidders went for him at the high-profile auction.

Yousuf was flaunted as their prized catch by the ICL early last year but later he cancelled his ICL contract after being lured away by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).The only Pakistani player who came close to getting a price that matched his star value is experienced all-rounder Shahid Afridi, who fetched US$675,000 from Hyderabad. But even he wasn’t able to procure enough considering the fact that Afridi was named the most valuable player of the inaugural World Twenty20 championship in South Africa last September.

Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik got half-a-million dollars from Delhi in spite of what he terms as an ‘internet’ controversy against him run by the Indian media which alleges he secretly married an Indian girl and is now refusing to own it.

But the biggest Pakistani beneficiary of the IPL is injury-prone medium pacer Mohammad Asif. Though he hasn’t played any cricket in recent months because of an elbow injury and is still recovering from a surgery, Asif was deemed good enough by Delhi for a US$650,000 price tag.

Pakistan’s experienced wicketkeeper-batsman Kamran Akmal, however, was unable to attract any bids and was taken by Jaipur for a base price of US$150,000.It’s not that these price tags aren’t cool. But analyse this: Players like Chris Gayle ($800,000) Brendon McCullum ($700,000) and Shanthakumaran Sreenath ($625,000) will be paid much more than Malik, Shoaib and Younis Khan.

It’s probably that none of the franchisees is sure about the sort of hype a Pakistani cricketer will be able to manage in an Indian market.For example, what will happen if Shoaib Akhtar shatters the stumps of Sachin Tendulkar at the Eden Gardens in an IPL game? Will the local Kolkata crowd cheer for the speedster for scalping a key Mumbai wicket or will they boo him for sending their country’s best batsman back to the dressing room?

Source:Cricket News