Signed, signalled and sought

The big auction may be over but the franchises are busy filling the holes in their squads. Some are confirmed signings - Delhi have drafted in Yo Mahesh, Shikhar Dhawan, Mithun Manhas, Rajat Bhatia and Mayank Tehlan. The under-19 stars Virat Kohli, Tanmay Srivastava and Pradeep Sangwan are expected to be recruited soon.

Bangalore have enlisted the services of Sunil Joshi, Balachandra Akhil, R Vinay Kumar, Bharath Chipli, J Arun Kumar, KP Appanna, Devraj Patil. Manish Pandey, part of the under-19 squad, is also expected to join soon.

Chennai have signed up Goa’s Shadab Jakati, Uttar Pradesh’s Sudeep Tyagi, R Ashwin, Anirudha Srikkanth and S Badrinath. Abhinav Mukund and Napoleon Einstein will be soon signed up.

Mumbai have taken on the Baroda wicket-keeper, Pinal Shah, along with Mumbai Ranji players Abhishek Nayar and Ajinkya Rahane and Maharashtra’s Yogesh Takawale.

Hyderabad have roped in Y Venugopala Rao, N Arjun Yadav, D Ravi Teja, Pragyan Ojha, D Kalyankrishna, P Vijay Kumar, M Sarveesh and Orissa’s Halahar Das.

Mohali have signed up VRV Singh and two under-22 players in Karan Goel and Uday Kaul.

Jaipur have brought in Pankaj Singh and Mumbai's Under-22 player Anoop Revandkar. Ravindra Jadeja, part of the victorious Under-19 squad, has been linked with Jaipur.

Then there’s the signing about to happen: Former India opener Aakash Chopra, currently in rich form, is set to play for the Kolkata team. “The contract is more or less final. I only have to sign the contract to complete the formalities,” Chopra told IANS.

Chopra may seem a surprise choice for Twenty20 given that he has not always been known for fiery batting but, this season, he’s had his shares of fours and sixes and his form seems to have extended to one-day games. On Thursday, he scored 130 off 140 balls, including 18 boundaries, against Punjab in the Ranji Trophy north zone one-day championship. His coach Tarak Sinha says the change of pace in his batting is deliberate, to suit the shorter versions of the game.

Finally, the wishful thinking: Vijay Mallya, who owns the Bangalore Royal Challengers, says Andrew Flintoff and Monty Panesar will be his targets should English players get official sanction to join the IPL. in the targeted by the Indian Premier League. “I would love to buy an Andrew Flintoff or a [Dimitri] Mascarenhas or Panesar. They would be superstars in India,” Mallya told the Sunday Times. They could, he added, earn up to US$1.5 million – what Mahendra Singh Dhoni, currently the IPL’s highest-paid player , will make this season.