Gautam Gambhir was the first player to be sold at the 2011 IPL Players' Auction for a whopping price of $2.4 million.
- How much the IPL teams spent and on whom
The Indian opener, who started with a base price of $200,000, was snapped by up Shahrukh Khan-owned Kolkata Knight Riders.
This is the highest ever price paid for a player in the history of the IPL.
Yusuf Pathan was also sold to Kolkata Knight Riders for a whopping $2.1 million.
Yusuf, who started with a base price of $300,000, triggered off an instant bidding war with all the franchises going all out to sign up the all-rounder.
Yusuf emerged as one of the best players in the last three editions of the IPL and holds the record of having scored the fastest century in the tournament off just 37 balls.
India's Yuvraj Singh was the first player to be bought by the newly-formed Sahara Pune Warriors for a whopping $1.8million.
Yuvraj, who holds the world record of having hit six sixes in a Twenty20 match, started with a base price of $400,000.
He is the fifth player to get past the million-dollar mark.
Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff held the earlier record when they were purchased in the last auction for $1.55m. But Pietersen got a lukewarm response this time and was sold only for $600,000.
There were a couple of surprises with Ross Taylor, Mahela Jayawardene and AB de Villiers also crossing the million-dollar mark.
Taylor was purchased by Rajasthan Royals for $1million, while IPL Kochi made it's first buy in Sri Lanka's Jayawardene for $1.5million and AB de Villiers was snapped up Royal Challengers Bangalore for $1.1million.
India's top pacer Zaheer Khan, however, failed to join the million-dollar mark when he was bought by Bangalore for $900,000, who also bought Tillakaratne Dilshan for $650,000.
Cameron White surprised everyone when he was purchased by Deccan Chargers for a massive $1.1 million in Round 2 of the IPL Players' Auction.
The Australian all-rounder started with a reserve price of $300,000, is regarded one of the top players in T20 cricket and all the franchises showed a keen interest.
India's young batsman Rohit Sharma was purchased by Mumbai Indians for a whopping $2.1 million dollars.
Rohit played for Deccan Chargers in the previous three editions of the IPL, but Mumbai went all out to secure his signature.
Former Australia all-rounder Andrew Symonds was purchased by Mumbai Indians for $850,000.
Symonds, who no longer plays international cricket, started with a base price of $300,000.
Interestingly, he will play in the same team as Harbhajan Singh, the player whom he accused of racial abuse during a Test match.
Robin Uthappa enjoyed a massive windfall at the IPL Players' Auction when he was purchased by for $2.1 million.
He becomes the fourth player to cross the $2million dollar mark after Gautam Gambhir ($2.4m), Yusuf Pathan ($2.1m) and Rohit Sharma ($2m)
Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Daredevils had a keen tussle for the dashing batsman before newcomers Kochi IPL and Sahara Pune Warriors also joined in the battle to take the player past the two million-dollar mark.
Uthappa, who started with a reserve price of $200,000, played for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the previous three editions.
Team Kochi also made their presence felt when they got the services of Sri Lankan veteran Mahela Jayawardene for $1.5 million, but his captain Kumar Sangakkara fetched a lower rate at $700,000 and was taken by Deccan Chargers.
Kerala fans were in for delight when India's pace sensation S Sreesanth was snapped by Team Kochi for $900,000.
Sreesanth, who played for Kings XI Punjab, made a successful comeback from injury during the recently-concluded Test series against South Africa.
Indian discard Irfan Pathan got a massive boost when he was purchased by Delhi Daredevils for a mammoth $1.9million.
Both the Pathan brothers broke the million-dollar barrier with Yusuf Pathan being sold to Kolkata Knight Riders for $2.1 million.
The all-rounder, who previously played for Kings XI Punjab, started with a base price of $200,000.
Interestingly, he was purchased for a higher price than current Indian pacers Zaheer Khan and S Sreesanth, who each went for $900,000.
Delhi Daredevils justified the purchase of Pathan despite the all-rounder having missed the entire domestic season because of injuries.
The 26-year-old last played for India in 2009 after which he was sacked following a string of poor performances with the ball and fitness issues.
"Pathan's price is subjective. He brings two skills with him which is batting and bowling. So paying $1.9 million dollars for an all-rounder like him is fair," said PB Vanchi, director of GMR Sports, owners of Delhi Daredevils.
"He can be a match-winner," Vanchi added.
India's exciting batsman Saurabh Tiwary's bidding triggered a huge debate before he was snapped up for $1.6 million by Royal Challengers Bangalore in the post lunch session of the 2011 IPL Players' Auction.
Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab had a war of words after the auctioneer Richard Madleey accepted a late bid from the latter. Things heated up as Siddharth Mallya, director of RCB, even went up to the Kings XI team table to clarify matters.
Eventually, Bangalore took the honours as they increased the bid.
Australia's Twenty20 specialist David Hussey also joined the million-dollar club when he was purchased by Kings XI Punjab for a whopping $1.4 million.
Hussey, who started with a reserve price of $300,000, previously played for Kolkata Knight Riders and went for nearly three times his base price.
Among the wicketkeepers, Dinesh Karthik got a massive boost on his base price of $200,000, when he was purchased by Kings XI Punjab for $900,000.
Parthiv Patel, who had a base price of $100,000, was bought by Team Kochi for $290,000, while Wriddhiman Saha, who started with the same base price, was bought by Chennai Super Kings for the same price.
Naman Ojha, who played for Rajasthan Royals in the previous editions, was signed up by Delhi Daredevils for $270,000.
Among the Australian, Brad Haddin was bought for $325,000 by Kolkata Knight Riders and Tim Paine went to Sahara Pune Warriors for $270,000, while compatriot Graham Manou, who started with a base price of $50,000, found no takers.
South Africa's uncapped wicketkeeper David Jacobs went for more than nine times his base price and was purchased by Mumbai Indians for $190,000.
Shockingly, Ashes winning wicketkeeer Matt Prior and South Africa's Mark Boucher, who both had a base price of $200,000 also went unsold.
In the all-rounders category, Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja enjoyed a windfall when he was purchased by Team Kochi for a massive $950,000 against his base price of $100,000.
Sri Lanka's ace all-rounder Angelo Mathews with a starting price of $300,000 was also in hot demand before he was bought by Sahara Pune Warriors for $950,000.
Mumbai all-rounder Abhishek Nayar got a massive boost on his base price of $50,000 when he was sold for $800,000 to Kings XI Punjab.
West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo, who previously played for Mumbai Indians, was sold to Chennai Super Kings for his base price for $200,000.
Bangladesh captain and No. 1 all-rounder in ODIs Shakib-Al-Hasan was sold to Kolkata Knight Riders to $425,000 against his base price of $200,000.
Australian all-rounder James Hopes, who started with a base price of $200,000, was taken by Delhi Daredevils for $350,000, while Steven Smith was taken up by Team Kochi for his base price of $200,000.
New Zealand's James Franklin also went for his base price of $100,000 to Mumbai Indians.
England's Stuart Broad was sold to Kings XI Punjab for his base price of $400,000, while Luke Wright, starting with the same price, was left unsold.
In the fast bowling department there were no real surprises. South Africa's pace sensation Dale Steyn got the highest bid among the fast bowlers when he was purchased by Deccan Chargers for $1.2 million.
He is the third player from South Africa to make it past the million-dollar mark after Jacques Kallis ($1.1m for Kolkata) and AB de Villiers ($1m for Rajasthan Royals).
India's pacer Praveen Kumar reaped rich rewards for his recent performances in international cricket when he was snapped up by Kings XI Punjab for $800,000, getting him four times of his base price.
Veteran pacer Ashish Nehra was also in hot demand as he fetched a rich contract of $850,000 from Sahara Pune Warriors.
Champions Chennai Super Kings, desperate to sign-up a bowler, managed to retain Doug Bollinger for $700,000.
Meanwhile, Ishant Sharma, with a reserve price of $200,000, didn't invite much interested and was purchased by Deccan Chargers for a $450,000.
South African pacer Morne Morkel attracted a much higher bid when he was sold to Delhi Daredevils for $475,0000 after starting with $100,000.
Australian speedster Brett Lee attracted just one bid and was bought by Kolkata Knight riders for his base price of $400,000.
His fellow-countryman Ryan Harris was sold to Kings XI Punjab for $325,000, while Dirk Nannes went for double that price to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $650,000.
Fast bowler James Anderson, who played an integral part in England's Ashes winning campaign was unsold after starting with $400,000 and so was Sri Lanka's Dilhara Fernando with a base price of $100,000.
Sri Lanka's spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan was pick of the spinners when he was bought by Team Kochi for $1million.
Muralitharan, the highest wicket-taker in Tests and ODIs, started with a base price of $300,000, but attracted huge interest from a few teams before Kochi stole the show.
Piyush Chawla came a close second when he was retained by Kings XI Punjab for $900,000 for nine time his base price.
R Ashwin was also retained by champions Chennai Super Kings, who went all out with a massive bid of $850,000 against his base price of $100,000.
Deccan Chargers managed to keep Pragyan Ojha for $500,000, while Murali Kartik starting at $200,000 found no takers.
India leg-spinner Amit Mishra, who previously played for Delhi Daredevils, didn't attract much interest and was taken by Deccan Chargers for $300,000.
New Zealand's Nathan McCullum was sold for his base price of $100,000 to Sahara Pune Warriors, while Team Kochi snapped up Ramesh Powar for $180,000.
Interestingly, Graeme Swann, rated as the top spinner in world cricket, surprisingly did not attract any interest and was unsold. Similarly was the case with Sri Lanka's mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis.
"The interest in England players is based on their availability. South Africa, New Zealand are the only countries other than India, whose player would be available for the full season in 2010 and 2011 and that is why their players are getting a good bid," an official from Delhi Daredevils said.
In the second group of batsmen, Tamil Nadu's S Badrinath went for a whopping $800,000 and not surprising he was picked up by Chennai Super Kings after starting with a bid of $100,000.
India's Test batsman Cheteshwar Pujara was taken by Royal Challengers Bangalore for $700,000, for seven times his base price.
Bengal captain Manoj Tiwary was purchased by Kolkata Knight Riders for $475,000 after starting with a base price of $100,000.
Australian discard Brad Hodge attracted some interest and was bought by Team Kochi $425,000 after being stiff competition from Chennai Super Kings.
England's Eoin Morgan, starting with $200,000, was sold to Kolkata Knight Riders for $350,000
Uncapped Australian batsman Aaron Finch was sold to Delhi Daredevils for $300,000 for three times his reserve price and his compatriot Calum Ferguson was sold at the same price to Sahara Pune Warriors.
Rajasthan Royals managed to secure the services of England's T20 captain Paul Collingwood for $250,000.
Sri Lanka's Chamara Kapugedara started with a base price of $100,000 but was unsold so was Tamim Iqbal from Bangladesh.
