Is it not imperative that after investing millions on something a good return is expected? The same applies to the sports arena. You pay big for a star and expect him to shine.

There are manifold examples of expensive 'flops' in recent sporting history. Manchester United dished out a bomb to acquire Bulgarian Dimitri Berbatov from Tottenham. So did Chelsea for Andriy Shevchenko (from AC Milan) and Real Madrid for Fabio Canavarro (from Juventus). These packages haven't yielded the desired results.

On a broader scale, Roman Abramovic spent a sizeable amount to acquire players and still Chelsea couldn't win the Premier League in the first season of his ownership. Same for Vladimir Romanov for Scottish club Hearts, the feeble competition in the latter league notwithstanding.

Closer home, Brian Lara failed to justify his top billing in the Indian Cricket League and Chris Cairns was an equally big disappointment.

Similary in the inaugural season of the IPL, there were some players who failed to justify their top billing or their huge price tags. Some of them who spring to mind immediately are Mohammad Kaif (Rajasthan Royals), Stephen Fleming (Chennai Super Kings), Ishant Sharma (Kolkata Knight Riders), Jacques Kallis (Bangalore Royal Challengers).

The above examples reiterate the fact is that most of the high-buys in the IPL's second auction have struggled to justify their worth.

Now that the tournament is midway through, Rediff.com assesses the performances of the costliest players in the second season and finds out that they are not worth the price they came at.