Josh Hazlewood was the big Australian winner on the first day of the Indian Premier League auction as he landed a $A1.44m deal to join Virat Kohli's Royal Challengers Bangalore.
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The paceman was one of four Australian internationals to earn million-dollar deals on the first day of the auction in Bengalruru on Saturday, with national team captain Pat Cummins, Mitch Marsh and David Warner also in the seven-figure club.
Marsh and Warner, who previously played together at Sunrisers Hyderabad, will team up at the Ricky Ponting-coached Delhi Capitals, while Cummins has again been snapped up by the Kolkata Knight Riders.
But the big surprise was that Steve Smith went unsold. The former Test skipper, Matthew Wade and Adam Zampa all failed to attract a single bid at their opening price of $A372,000.
They could, however, still be picked up by one of the 10 teams when the auction resumes on Sunday.
Hazlewood hit the jackpot with his price tag being nearly four times as much as he scooped for Chennai last year, with five teams battling over his signature.
The paceman will join Glenn Maxwell at RCB, who was retained by the franchise last December.
Cummins didn't have to wait long for a hefty payday as the third lot of the event but his price represented somewhat of a bargain for the Knight Riders, who'd paid around $A3.1 million for him at the 2020 IPL auction.
Cummins played seven games for KKR in the 2021 IPL, taking nine wickets and scoring 93 runs. He did not return for the second portion of the season after the COVID-19 postponement.
"We thought he (Cummins) would go higher, so very, very delighted with that," said Venky Mysore, KKR's managing director.
Cummins will be joined at the Knight Riders by talented India top-order batsmen Shreyas Iyer, who fetched $A2.27 million.
Warner is headed to Delhi after being sold for $A1.16 million, a huge reduction on his $A2.38 million price last year.
The aggressive opener struggled through the 2021 season with Hyderabad and was axed as captain midway through the tournament before he was dropped from the side altogether.
Coming off his heroics in the T20 World Cup final, Marsh also found himself a healthy $A1.2 million salary.
Biggest earner of the day, though, was India's exciting 23-year-old opening bat Ishan Kishan, who was bought again by the Mumbai Indians for $A$2.83m.
The day's biggest drama emerged when British auctioneer Hugh Edmeades fell unconscious during the bidding.
An IPL statement said Edmeades fell "due to postural hypotension" or symptoms of low blood pressure.
"The medical team attended to him immediately after the incident and he is stable," the statement added.
The auction later resumed with Charu Sharma, an Indian sports commentator and quiz master, replacing Edmeades.
Australian Associated Press
