Yusuf, Uthappa, Rohit also cross $2 million mark

It turned out to be an action packed day one of the 2010 Indian Premier League Players' Auction with new records being set as a total of 72 players were sold.

Gautam Gambhir was sold for the highest price with Kolkata Knight Riders signing him for a massive $2.4million, while Yusuf Pathan ($2.1m), Robin Uthappa ($2.1m) and Rohit Sharma ($2m) were the other players to make it past the $2-million mark.

There were a few disappointments too with legends like Sourav Ganguly and Brian Lara left unsold along with 14 other players.

Gurunath Meiyappan owner of Chennai Super Kings stressed that their main focus was on retaining their winning combination.

"We worked three years with this set of players and our hard work paid off when we won the IPL and Champions League last year. So our main focus was to retain our players, though we had a few options like Dirk Nannes for Doug Bollinger," he said.

"The key player that we missed out on was Muralitharan, who was bought by Team Kochi."

Team Kochi co-owner Vivek Venugopal sounded a satisfied after the opening day.

"We have a good set of players coming in and we are happy with the way the things have stressed out,"he said.

IPL chairman Chirayu Amin also clarified that there was no issue with getting NOCs for England players and they were snubbed by the franchises on their own.

"There was no issue with England players at all. The franchises have decided to select the players on their cricketing abilities. The NOC issue was settled late last night," he said.

The final and second day of the Players' Auction will start at 1100 IST on Sunday.