Hazlewood heads Aussie pay-day at IPL 'mega auction'

Josh Hazlewood became the most expensive Australian bought at the first day of the Indian Premier League's 'mega auction' with a A$1.44m deal to join Virat Kohli's Royal Challengers Bangalore.

The price tag nearly quadruples the $408,000 Hazlewood earned at the IPL last year and came after fierce bidding involving five teams, with RCB only swooping in late to trump rivals.

Hazlewood, fresh from taking the best T20I figures in Australia in Friday night's match against Sri Lanka and emerging as a world-class bowler in the shortest format in the past 12 months, will also join Glenn Maxwell at RCB, who was not sold at auction, but had been retained by the franchise last December for A$2m.

Hazlewood was one of four Australians to earn million-dollar contracts on the first day of the auction, with Mitch Marsh and David Warner to play together at the Ricky Ponting coached Delhi Capitals. Marsh and Warner had previously played together at Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Test captain Pat Cummins, who was again bought by the Kolkata Knight Riders, was the other to break through the A$1m barrier.

But while Marsh's $A1.2m deal joined Hazlewood in tripling their previous IPL fee, Cummins and Warner both saw hefty cuts to their previous earnings.

Cummins was sold for A$1.34m to KKR as the first Australian to go under the hammer but that represents a A$1.82m discount on the eye-watering A$3.16m Kolkata paid last year.

Warner, the 35-year-old opener who was player of the tournament at November's T20 World Cup, was sold for A$1.16m to Delhi.

He had been earning A$2.3m a year with the Sunrisers Hyderabad and had been predicted before the auction to be one of the most in-demand players.

"We were a bit surprised the price did not go higher for him (Warner)," said Parth Jindal, co-owner of the Delhi Capitals.

"He was obviously very much in our plans, knowing his history in the IPL, he's played for Delhi in the past so we're very excited to get him back into the Capitals and with Prithvi (Shaw) and him it's a lethal opening pair."

There was also bitter pills to swallow for Steve Smith, Matthew Wade and Adam Zampa who all went unsold in the first round of bidding. The trio all failed to attract a single bid at their base price of A$372,000. The trio could yet be picked up by a team in a later round.

Marcus Stoinis joined Maxwell as another to have already been signed on big-money deals prior to the auction.

Stoinis, meanwhile, has been picked up by the new Lucknow franchise along with KL Rahul and Ravi Bishnoi.

The allrounder has been a key part of Ponting's Delhi Capitals side in recent years but has signed with the new team for A$1.7 million.

Marsh will effectively replace Stoinis in Delhi's plans after the franchise went hard for the Perth Scorchers and Australia No.3, entering the bidding once the price passed the A$1m mark. 

Marsh came into his own in T20 cricket in 2021, enjoying a breakout year and cementing a spot at No.3 in Australia's T20 World Cup winning side, reflected in his A$1.2m price tag that triples his previous deal with Sunrisers Hyderabad that was worth A$408,000.

Cummins, who also played the past two seasons with Kolkata, was subject of a bidding war between that franchise and the two new teams this season, the Gujurat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants.

However, bidding waned as Cummins' price passed the A$1m mark, and the delight from the KKR contingent was palpable as he was snared for a relative bargain of INR72,500,000.

"To get back Pat Cummins at that price, we thought he would go higher so very, very delighted with that," said Venky Mysore, KKR's managing director.

Attacking left-handed opener Ishan Kishan became the most expensive player sold at this year's auction – and second most expensive Indian overall – when he was re-purchased by the Mumbai Indians for A$2.83m.

A total of 47 Australians will go under the hammer at the IPL's 'mega-auction' over the two-day event.

Just when the Australian players can link up with their IPL franchise remains to be seen, with a tour of Pakistan and the end of the domestic season both conflicting with the expected start of the IPL.

The tour of Pakistan runs until April 5 when the one-off T20 will be played, although the three-Test series will finish on March 25.

The Sheffield Shield final is due to finish on April 4.

The schedule for this year's IPL has not yet been revealed but it has been widely reported to be starting on March 27.

Cricket Australia is understood to have told IPL franchises that players involved in the white-ball series against Pakistan will not be released to travel until April 6, while players that make the Shield final will not be able to travel until April 5.

Players wanting to participate in the IPL need a 'No Objection Certificate' from CA to compete, which dictates their availability. These are not usually withheld unless there is national duty, or a medical/fitness reason.

The ability of the Aussies to participate in the final stages of the IPL also remains unclear with a tour of Sri Lanka to feature three T20s, five ODIs and two Tests to be played in June and July, although exact dates have not yet been confirmed.

Australia's national selector George Bailey said the IPL was a "really good development opportunity" for players, but that national duty would always take precedence.

"We do see the IPL as a really good development opportunity when it fits, but there's obviously a huge amount of cricket with a series (in Sri Lanka) planned for immediately-post the IPL as well," Bailey said this week.

"So it will be about working with the individuals to ensure they're getting the preparation they need, but we certainly won't be releasing players to the IPL while Australia are playing."

Australians in the 2022 IPL auction

SOLD

Josh Hazlewood A$1.44m Royal Challengers Bangalore

Pat Cummins A1.35m Kolkata Knight Riders

Mitchell Marsh A$1.2m Delhi Capitals

David Warner A$1.16m Delhi Capitals

UNSOLD

Steve Smith, Matthew Wade, Adam Zampa (base price A$372,000)

YET TO BE AUCTIONED

Base price of 200 lakh (approx. A$372,000)

Nathan Coulter-Nile, Ashton Agar

Base price of 150 lakh (approx. A$283,000)

Aaron Finch, Chris Lynn, Usman Khawaja, Kane Richardson

Base price of 100 lakh (approx. A$189,000)

Marnus Labuschagne, Daniel Sams, Andrew Tye, Moises Henriques, Riley Meredith, James Faulkner, D'Arcy Short, Josh Philippe

Base price of 75 lakh (approx. A$142,000)

Nathan Ellis, Jason Behrendorff, Sean Abbott, Billy Stanlake, Ben Cutting

Base price of 50 lakh (approx. A$94,000)

Ben McDermott, Kurtis Patterson, Wes Agar, Jack Wildermuth, Joel Paris, Hilton Cartwright

Base price of 40 lakh (approx. A$75,000)

Tim David, Chris Green

Base price of 30 lakh (approx. A$57,000)

Ben Dwarshuis, Matt Kelly

Base price of 20 lakh (approx. A$38,000)

Hayden Kerr, Tanveer Sangha, Alex Ross, Jake Weatherald, Nathan McAndrew, Tom Rogers, Liam Guthrie, Liam Hatcher, Jason Sangha, Matt Short, Aidan Cahill