India's ODI captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni fetched the highest price in round one of the players' auction of the Indian Premier League in Mumbai on Wendesday.
Dhoni was bought by Indian Cements, owner of the Chennai franchise, for a whopping 1.5 million US dollars, approximately Rs six crore.
The bidding process began around 1130 IST at the Hilton Hotel in Mumbai and was attended by all the franchise owners barring Mumbai's Mukesh Ambani.
Kolkata franchise owner Shah Rukh Khan arrived an hour late with wife Gauri and missed the first round.
Former India captains Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly were also present at the bidding.
After Dhoni, the next highest bid was for Australia's wicketkeeping ace Adam Gilchrist, who was bought by Deccan Chronicle's Hyderabad franchise for US $7,00,000 (around Rs 2.8 crore). His former team mate and spin legend Shane Warne was purchased by Emerging Media's Jaipur franchise form US $4,50,000 (Rs 1.8 crore).
It was not surprising that the Sri Lankan duo of Muttiah Muralitharan and Mahela Jayawardene also fetched high prices.
Muralitharan was the second player bought by Chennai for US $6,00,000. Considering his wife also hails from that region he was one of their top priorities.
Sri Lankan captain Jayawardene was bought by Preity Zinta's Mohali franchise for US $4,75, 000.
Pakistan's troubled speedster Shoaib Akhtar went to Shah Rukh's Kolkata franchise for US $4,25,000.
Round I bid results:
| Player | Country | Bought by Franchise | Price (in USD) |
| MS Dhoni | India | Chennai | 1.5 m |
| Adam Gilchrist | Australia | Hyderabad | 7,00,000 |
| M Muralitharan | Sri Lanka | Chennai | 6,00,000 |
| M Jayawardene | Sri Lanka | Mohali | 4,75,000 |
| Shane Warne | Australia | Jaipur | 4,50,000 |
| Shoaib Akhtar | Pakistan | Kolkata | 4,25,000 |
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