Preity, Juhi, Shilpa shine at the auction of IPL 2009

After a super successful inaugural edition, IPL is back again and this time, it only promises to be even bigger and better. The auctions took place at Goa yesterday and it was indeed a star studded high profile event which brought together the best from the world of sports, business and entertainment.

Shah Rukh Khan may not have been present at the auctions but his partner Juhi Chawla was very much there along with hubby Jai Mehta. SRK's team Kolkata Knight Riders' only major purchase of the day was Bangladeshi player Mashrafe Mortaza.

Preity Zinta's Kings XI Punjab may have made it to the Top 4 last year but this time Zinta babe surely wants no less than the top honor. Hence she, along with partner Ness Wadia, was seen aggressively bidding for their preferred players. In the end, they bagged English all-rounder Ravi Bopara and West Indian fast bowler Jerome Taylor.

The new entrant at this year's auctions was none other than Shilpa Shetty, who, along with beau Raj Kundra had recently acquired a stake in the victorious Rajasthan Royals team. Just like last year, even this year, Rajasthan Royals decided to go with lesser known players like Shaun Tait (Aus) and Tyron Henderson (SA).

The biggest catch of the day was bagged by the Vijay Mallya owned Bangalore Royal Challengers, who spent a staggering 1.55 million $ to get flamboyant England player Kevin Pietersen on board. Pietersen's team-mate Andrew Flintoff also fetched the same amount when he was picked by the Chennai Super Kings. The Mukesh Ambani owned Mumbai Indians was represented by Nita Ambani and she surely seemed to have made a right decision in picking up the promising South African all rounder J.P. Duminy.

The second season of the IPL kicks off on April 10th this year, and if yesterday was the beginning of things to come, one can only expect a cracker of a tournament this time too. We simply can't wait for that!!!