Indian one-day captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds attracted maximum moolah as teams spent big ahead of the inaugural Twenty20 Indian Premier League (IPL). Star-studded names were up for grabs in Mumbai ahead of the Twenty20 tournament, which begins on 18 April.

Some of the country’s biggest companies, including Vijay Mallya’s UB Group, have bought franchises. Bollywood stars Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta have bought into the Kolkata and Mohali franchises, adding further glamour to the league.

Surprises were in store in the course of the long auction conducted by the London-based independent auctioneer, Richard Madley.

Chennai – a franchise team owned by N. Srinivasan’s India Cements, set the ball rolling by giving $1.5 million for Dhoni while Hyderabad (owned by Deccan Chronicle) paid $1.35m for Symonds at a glitzy auction to determine who plays where in the IPL tournament

Retired Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne was the first player to go under the hammer fetching $450,000 from Jaipur. Compatriot Brett Lee went higher, being bought for $900,000 by Preity Zinta and Ness Wadia owned Mohali. Rookie Indian pacer Ishant Sharma was bought by Shah Rukh Khan owned Kolkata team for $950,000, while his partner Rudra Pratap Singh fetched $875,000 and was bought by Hyderabad. Reliance Industries Limited kept quiet for a long time before opting to take Sri Lankan opener Sanath Jayasuriya.

TOP 10 WINNING AUCTION BIDS

Mahendra Dhoni: $1.5m (Chennai)

Andrew Symonds: $1.35m (Hyderabad)

Sanath Jayasuriya: $975,000 (Mumbai)

Ishant Sharma: $950,000 (Kolkata)

Irfan Pathan: $925,000 (Mohali)

Brett Lee : $900,000 (Mohali)

Jacques Kallis: $900,000 (Bangalore)

RP Singh: $875,000 (Hyderabad)

Harbhajan Singh: $850,000 (Mumbai)

Chris Gayle: $800,000 (Kolkata)

Five “marquee players” players were reserved from the auction – team captains Ganguly (Calcutta), Yuvraj Singh (Mohali), Sachin Tendulkar (Mumbai), Rahul Dravid (Bangalore) and Virender Sehwag (Delhi) – and guaranteed 15 per cent more than the highest-paid player at their franchise.

The 15 per cent premium meant Tendulkar would fetch $1,121,250 per season – still short of Dhoni’s salary.

The eight franchise teams of the IPL — Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mohali and Mumbai — had a budget of up to $5 million each to purchase contracted players. The maximum number of overseas signings was capped at eight per team.

The structure of the bidding saw players auctioned off in groups – “marquee players”, batsmen, bowlers, wicketkeepers, allrounders – and produced some unusual results. Ponting, skipper of the world’s best international team, will be paid some $275,000 per year less than Calcutta teammate David Hussey, who is only on the fringe of the Australian setup.

The teams will pay the winning bid to the player annually. The contracts are for a three-year period and are guaranteed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

In all, the first IPL will pay one million plus dollar salary to six cricketers: five Indians and one Australian.