Australian allrounders sold for huge totals as 13 Aussies are bought at the 2016 IPL Auction
Watson, Marsh go big in IPL auction
Shane Watson has 1.98 million reasons to smile after he was bought for that amount by Royal Challengers Bangalore in today's Indian Premier League player auction.
Watson was sold to RCB for 9.5 Crore (AUD$1.98million), joining compatriot Mitchell Starc and explosive batsmen Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli in what is set to be one of the world's most powerful batting line-ups.
Incredibly excited to join @RCBTweets. Can't wait to meet up with my new teammates in April.#IPL2016
— Shane Watson (@ShaneRWatson33) February 6, 2016
Mitchell Marsh also pocketed six figures, sold for a cool $1 million to new franchise Rising Pune Supergiants, while fellow allrounder John Hastings was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders for $271,000.
While Starc's involvement in the competition remains unknown as he recovers from ankle surgery, RCB signed Australia and Adelaide Strikers quick Kane Richardson for $417,000.
National T20 captain Aaron Finch, who is aiming for a return in the preceding World T20 tournament, was bought by Gujarat Lions for $208,000.
Fast bowlers Andrew Tye (Gujarat), Ben Cutting (Hyderabad) and Scott Boland (Pune) were each sold for $104,000, while Joel Paris was picked up by Delhi for $63,000.
WATCH: Mitch Marsh magic guides Australia to win in Wellington
Marcus Stoinis ($115,000) went to Kings XI Punjab, Travis Head ($104,000) to RCB, and Peter Handscomb ($63,000) to the Supergiants.
Adam Zampa ($63,000) was one of four Melbourne Stars players, alongside Kevin Pietersen, Boland and Handscomb, to join Pune under Stars head coach Stephen Fleming.
Top five #IPLAuction buys
Watson, RCB AUD1.98m
Negi, DD $1.8m
Morris, DD $1.5m
Yuvraj, SRH $1.5m
Mohit, KXIP $1.4m pic.twitter.com/kVNJYpKzXY
— cricket.com.au (@CricketAus) February 6, 2016
Former Australia T20I and Kings XI captain George Bailey went unsold, as did Sydney Thunder pair Michael Hussey and Usman Khawaja.
Brad Haddin, Ben Dunk, Cameron Bancroft, Nathan Lyon, Michael Klinger, Shaun Tait, Adam Voges, Joe Burns, Sean Abbott and Nic Maddinson also went unsold.
Yuvraj Singh was the other big winner in the marquee player signing stage, going to David Warner's SunRisers Hyderabad for $1.5m, along with left-arm paceman Ashish Nehra for $1.1m.
WATCH: The most fierce bid of the morning. @ShaneRWatson33 being sold to @RCBTweets #IPLAuctionhttps://t.co/A5whdcyAcv
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) February 6, 2016
Pietersen, backing up after a superb KFC T20 Big Bash League campaign with the Melbourne Stars, joins Steve Smith at Rising Pune Supergiants, going for $730,000 alongside Indian right-armer Ishant Sharma ($792,000).
Newcomers Gujarat Lions (Rajkot) purchased Dale Steyn for $480,000 and West Indies allrounder Dwayne Smith for $479,000.
Bangalore
Australians: Mitchell Starc, Shane Watson, Travis Head, Kane Richardson
Delhi
Australians: Nathan Coulter-Nile, Joel Paris
Gujarat (Rajkot)
Australians: James Faulkner, Aaron Finch, Andrew Tye
Hyderabad
Australians: Moises Henriques, David Warner, Ben Cutting
Kolkata
Australians: Brad Hogg, Chris Lynn, John Hastings
Mumbai
Australians: None
Pune
Australians: Steve Smith, Mitchell Marsh, Peter Handscomb, Scott Boland, Adam Zampa
Punjab
Australians: Mitchell Johnson, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis