Gautam Gambhir is making the most of his good times. Under his captaincy, India thrashed New Zealand 5-0 in the recently concluded ODI series. He then scored vital half-centuries in both innings during the last drawn Test against South Africa in Cape Town.

And on Saturday, Gambhir hit jackpot when Kolkata Knight Riders bought him for a record sum of R11.04 crore during the auction in Bangalore.

India skipper MS Dhoni is delighted that his teammate was fetching millions. "We all had tremendous interest about the auction. We could not follow it because it was not televised here.

"I am happy that Gambhir got $2.4 million. Any cricketer earning money is good news," Dhoni toldu00a0 SUNDAY
MiD DAY.

As for the defending champions Chennai Super Kings, Dhoni said: "It will be a different team now. We had a great time when Makhaya Ntini and Muttiah Muralitharan played for us. Both were unique in their own way.

"Of course, I had discussed the choice of players with the owners, but the final decision was theirs."

Chennai Super Kings started the auction on a subdued note, getting Dwayne Bravo for as cheap as USD 200,000 and showed keenness in retaining Mike Hussey, Doug Bollinger, Ravichandran Ashwin and S Badrinath.