England's Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff fetched $1.55 million each at the Indian Premier League player auction Friday, setting a record for the highest amount paid for players in the Twenty20 competition.

Flintoff was snapped up by Chennai Super Kings, which last year set the previous record of $1.5 million for India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Bangalore's Royal Challengers secured Pietersen.

Bangalore's owner Vijay Mallya said he was prepared to pay more for Pietersen.

"It was a very worthwhile investment," Mallya told reporters after the first round of bidding.

"Team balance was important and Kevin was certainly important in maintaining that balance."

England players were not involved in the IPL last year, but have now been permitted by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to play for the first three weeks despite a clash with its own domestic season.

South African J.P. Duminy, who starred in his nation's recent successful tour of Australia, was sold for $950,000 to Mumbai Indians, more than three times his reserve price.

Australia paceman Shaun Tait was the first player auctioned, going to defending champions Rajasthan Royals for $375,000, where he will join former Australia teammate Shane Warne.

Rajasthan then made aggressive bids to buy both Pietersen and Flintoff, but could not get either. They later bought New Zealand's Jesse Ryder for $160,000.

The most dramatic bidding came for Bangladesh's Mashrafe bin Mortaza, whose reserved was set at $50,000 but soared to 12 times that amount before Kolkata Knight Riders clinched him for $600,000.

His Bangladesh teammate Mohammad Ashraful went to Mumbai Indians at the base price of $75,000 in the second round after most teams had exhausted their 10-player quota of foreign players.

The prices are for each year of two-year contracts. Last year, the teams had to sign contracts for three years at bid prices.

Cricketers will get paid on a prorata basis depending on their availability for the duration of the six-week tournament. The 2009 IPL season will be held from April 10 to May 29. While England players will only be available for the opening weeks, Australian players will only join late after national team duty.

South Africa's Tyron Henderson fetched the fourth-highest price, going to Rajasthan for $650,000, more than six times his base price, while England all-rounder Ravi Bopara went for $450,000 to King's XI Punjab.

Delhi Daredevils bought England pair Paul Collingwood and Owais Shah for $275,000 each, while Deccan Chargers picked up the West Indies pair of Fidel Edwards ($150,000) and Dwayne Smith ($100,000).

Kyle Mills of New Zealand went to Mumbai Indians for $150,000, while Chennai Super Kings added Sri Lanka's Thilan Thushara to their lineup for $140,000.

West Indies pacemen Jerome Taylor went for his base contract price of $150,000 to King's XI Punjab, while George Bailey, who plays for Australia's Tasmania state team, was the cheapest acquisition at $50,000 to Chennai Super Kings.

Of the 50 players available for bidding, those who did not attract bids included Australia's Stuart Clark and Phil Jaques, England's Luke Wright and Samit Patel, South Africa's Gulam Bodi and Morne van Wyk, and Sri Lanka pair Chamara Kapugedera and Nuwan Kulasekara.

This year's auction was different to that of 2008, when teams had to pick their entire squad. This time they only had to top up their playing lists with a few players to fill in vacancies.

The IPL governing body permitted franchisees to terminate the contracts of the players from Pakistan bought at last year's auction after Pakistan's government prevented its cricketers playing in this year's event owing to political tension between the south Asian neigbors.


February 20, 2008

A summary of the eight rounds in the IPL Players' Auction, held in Mumbai on Wednesday.

PlayerCountryBought by FranchisePrice (in USD)Base Price (USD)
Round 1: Dhoni fetches the highest price
MS Dhoni IndiaChennai1.5 m4,00,000
Adam Gilchrist AustraliaHyderabad7,00,0003,00,000
M MuralitharanSri Lanka Chennai6,00,0002,50,000
M JayawardeneSri LankaMohali4,75,0002,50,000
Shane Warne AustraliaJaipur4,50,0004,50,000
Shoaib Akhtar PakistanKolkata4,25,0002,50,000
Round 2: Mukesh Ambani-owned Mumbai buys Jayasuriya, Bhajji
Anil Kumble IndiaBangalore5,00,0002,50,000
Harbhajan Singh IndiaMumbai8,50,0002,50,000
Sanath JayasuriyaSri LankaMumbai9,75,0002,50,000
Kumar SangakkaraSri LankaMohali7,00,0002,50,000
Glenn McGrathAustralia-No bid3,50,000
Mohammad Yousuf Pakistan-No bid3,30,000
Round 3: Symonds is second million-dollar player
Ricky Ponting AustraliaKolkata4,00,0003,35,000
Brett Lee AustraliaMohali9,00,0003,00,000
Andrew Symonds AustraliaHyderabad1.35m2,50,000
Michael HusseyAustralia-No bid2,50,000
Daniel VettoriNew Zealand Delhi6,25,0002,50,000
Matthew Hayden AustraliaChennai3,75,0002,25,000
Brendon McCullumNew ZealandKolkata7,00,0001,75,000
Jacob Oram New ZealandChennai6,75,0002,00,000
Round 4: Mallya buys Kallis for US $9,00,000
Stephen Fleming New ZealandChennai3,50,0003,50,000
Graeme Smith South AfricaJaipur2,50,0002,50,000
Herschelle Gibbs South AfricaHyderabad5,75,0002,50,000
Chris GayleWest Indies Kolkata8,00,0002,50,000
Shoaib Malik PakistanDelhi5,00,0003,00,000
Shahid Afridi PakistanHyderabad6,75,0002,25,000
Younis KhanPakistanJaipur2,25,0002,25,000
Mohammad Asif PakistanDelhi6,50,0002,25,000
Jacques Kallis South AfricaBangalore9,00,0002,25,000
Zaheer Khan IndiaBangalore4,50,0002,00,000
S Sreesanth IndiaMohali6,25,0002,00,000
Round 5: Dinesh Karthik goes to Delhi
Dinesh Karthik IndiaDelhi5,25,0002,00,000
AB de VilliersSouth AfricaDelhi3,00,0002,00,000
Mark Boucher South AfricaBangalore4,50,0002,00,000
Parthiv PatelIndiaChennai3,25,0001,50,000
Kamran AkmalPakistanJaipur1,50,0001,50,000
Tatenda TaibuZimbabwe----No bid1,25,000
Round 6: Mohali pays US $9,25,000 for Irfan Pathan
Albie MorkelSouth AfricaChennai6,75,0002,25,000
Ajit Agarkar IndiaKolkata3,50,0002,00,000
Shaun Pollock South AfricaMumbai5,50,0002,00,000
Irfan Pathan IndiaMohali9,25,0002,00,000
Scott StyrisNew ZealandHyderabad1,75,0001,75,000
Fervez MaharoofSri LankaDelhi2,25,0001,50,000
Tillakaratne DilshanSri LankaDelhi2,50,0001,50,000
Cameron WhiteAustraliaBangalore5,00,0001,00,000
Yusuf PathanIndiaJaipur4,75,0001,00,000
Joginder SharmaIndiaChennai2,25,0001,00,000
Ramnaresh Sarwan West Indies--unsold2,25,000
Simon KatichAustralia--unsold2,00,000
Justin LangerAustralia--unsold2,00,000
Gautam Gambhir IndiaDelhi7,25,0002,20,000
Robin UthappaIndiaMumbai8,00,0002,00,000
S ChanderpaulWest Indies--unsold2,00,000
Ashwell PrinceWest Indies--unsold1,75,000
VVS LaxmanIndiaHyderabad3,75,0001,50,000
Wasim Jaffer IndiaBangalore1,50,0001,50,000
Rohit SharmaIndiaHyderabad7,50,0001,50,000
Loots BosmanSouth Africa--unsold1,50,000
Mohammad KaifIndiaJaipur6,75,0001,25,000
Suresh RainaIndiaChennai6,50,0001,25,000
Manoj TiwaryIndiaDelhi6,75,0001,00,000
Chamara SilvaSri LankaHyderabad1,00,0001,00,000
David HusseyAustraliaKolkata6,25,0001,00,000
Round 7: Uthappa, Rohit Sharma hit jackpot
Ramnaresh SarwanWest Indies--unsold2,25,000
Simon KatichAustralia--unsold2,00,000
Justin LangerAustralia--unsold2,00,000
Gautam Gambhir IndiaDelhi7,25,0002,20,000
Robin UthappaIndiaMumbai8,00,0002,00,000
S ChanderpaulWest Indies--unsold2,00,000
Ashwell PrinceWest Indies--unsold1,75,000
VVS LaxmanIndiaHyderabad3,75,0001,50,000
Wasim JafferIndiaBangalore1,50,0001,50,000
Rohit SharmaIndiaHyderabad7,50,0001,50,000
Loots BosmanSouth Africa--unsold1,50,000
Mohammad KaifIndiaJaipur6,75,0001,25,000
Suresh RainaIndiaChennai6,50,0001,25,000
Manoj TiwaryIndiaDelhi6,75,0001,00,000
Chamara SilvaSri LankaHyderabad1,00,0001,00,000
David HusseyAustraliaKolkata6,25,0001,00,000
Round 8: SRK buys Ishant for US $950,000
Nathan Bracken AustraliaBangalore3,25,0002,25,000
RP SinghIndiaHyderabad8,75,0002,00,000
Murali Kartik IndiaKolkata4,25,0002,00,000
Makhaya Ntini South AfricaChennai2,00,0002,00,000
Lasith Malinga Sri LankaMumbai3,50,0002,00,000
Chaminda Vaas Sri LankaHyderabad2,00,0002,00,000
Ramesh Powar IndiaMohali1,70,0001,50,000
Umar GulPakistanKolkata1,50,0001,50,000
Dale SteynSouth AfricaBangalore3,25,0001,50,000
Dilhara FernandoSri LankaMumbai1,50,0001,50,000
Ishant SharmaIndiaKolkata9,50,0001,50,000
Piyush ChawlaIndiaMohali4,00,0001,25,000
Munaf Patel IndiaJaipur2,75,0001,00,000
Nuwan ZoysaIndiaHyderabad1,10,0001,00,000
Reserve players
Glenn McGrathAustraliaDelhi3,50,0003,50,000
Michael HusseyAustraliaChennai2,50,0002,50,000
Tatenda TaibuZimbabweKolkata1,25,0001,25,000
Ramnaresh SarwanWest IndiesMohali2,25,0002,25,000
Simon KatichAustraliaMohali2,00,0002,00,000
Justin LangerAustraliaJaipur2,00,0002,00,000
Shivnarine Chanderpaul West IndiesBangalore2,00,0002,00,000
Loots BosmanSouth AfricaMumbai1,50,0001,50,000

Mohd Yousuf


Withdrew
Ashwell Prince


Withdrew



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