Two days after his match-winning century, Aaron Finch scored a $662,000 deal with Indian Premier League franchise Mumbai.
Australia’s Twenty20 captain Finch went under the hammer as the IPL’s auction started on Monday.
Mumbai, coached by Ricky Ponting, met Finch’s reserve of 10 million rupees ($A207,000) then came out on top when the bidding war ended at 32 million rupees.
Finch was rewarded for his renowned power hitting, but will pocket a relative pittance compared to veteran Yuvraj Singh.
Singh may have missed India’s World Cup squad, but that didn’t stop him breaking the IPL auction record for the second year in a row.
The allrounder was in the middle of a bidding frenzy between Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Delhi Daredevils, with the latter snapping him up for 160 million rupees ($A3.3 million).
NSW paceman Sean Abbott was sold to Bangalore for $A207,000, while 44-year-old spinner and Big Bash star Brad Hogg went to Kolkata for half that price.
Sydney Thunder captain Michael Hussey will turn out for Chennai again, having been signed on his base price of $310,000.
Bidding for Hussey’s teammate Gurinder Sandhu, whose parents hail from Punjab, started at $62,000 with the swing specialist joining Delhi for $351,000.
Finch, Abbott, Hogg, Hussey and Sandhu were among the few Australians to attract any interest in the early stages of the auction.
Tweakers Ashton Agar, Nathan Lyon, Michael Beer and Cameron Boyce were all passed in, as were quicks Shaun Tait, Doug Bollinger, Ben Hilfenhaus, Dirk Nannes and Ben Laughlin.
Victorians Peter Siddle, Brad Hodge, David Hussey, Cameron White and Matthew Wade, and heavy-hitting batsmen Nathan Reardon, Aiden Blizzard and Ben Dunk were all unsold.
Andrew Tye, a revelation for Perth Scorchers during the recent Big Bash League season, and South Australia veteran Callum Ferguson were also ignored at auction.
South Africa’s Hashim Amla, English opener Alex Hales, and Sri Lankan veterans Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene were among the notable international players to miss out on an IPL pay day.
Sunrisers Hyderabad, the side coached by Tom Moody, signed T20 freelancer Kevin Pietersen (A$413,000), out-of-form England captain Eoin Morgan (A$310,000) and New Zealand young gun Kane Williamson (A$124,000).
NSW coach Trevor Bayliss, who is in charge of Kolkata, selected Hogg and New Zealand allrounder James Neesham at the relative bargain price of $A103,000.
Bidding continues, with 37 Australians and 344 players in total up for auction.
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