Million Dollar Mitch: Ashes Hero Mitchell Johnson a Big Ticket Item At IPL Auction

Mitchell Johnson looks on during an Australian nets session at Centurion Park

Pietersen a $1.6 million man
Mitchell Johnson struck a rich vein of form before he even stepped onto the field against South Africa at Centurion, becoming a million-dollar man when a Kings XI Punjab executive called his name in a luxury hotel in Bangalore. In the most blatant expression of cricket's commercial side and India's position at the centre of the cricket universe, Indian Premier League franchises spent more than $25 million in a few hours.

Johnson's supreme hostility in the Ashes made him a big ticket item, and he was the most expensive of the Australians to be sold in the first session of bidding on Wednesday. The Kings XI splurged $1.15 million on the Australian fast bowler. David Warner commanded $978,000 from Sunrisers Hyderabad, where he will form an explosive opening partnership with Aaron Finch ($710,000). Most Australian players are free to take part in the IPL this year because of a rare gap in the international schedule. Mitchell Starc, for

instance, will make his first appearance, and will earn $887,000 for his trouble. In the past, Australian Twenty20 captain George Bailey has subsisted on cut-price IPL deals but his astonishing hitting in the recent ODI series in India evidently made an impression on the owners of the Punjab Kings XI, who forked out $578,000 for the Tasmanian. Cricket's newest free agent, Kevin Pietersen, has 1.6 million reasons to feel better about the end of his international career, after he was snapped up by the Delhi Daredevils.
But even Pietersen's price tag was small beer compared with the $2.5 million reserved for Indian hero Yuvraj Singh by Royal Challengers Bangalore.

David Hussey, who in 2011 was one of the biggest earners in the IPL, was one of the players overlooked but he can go back in the auction of Friday if the franchises have any spare change. His brother Mike is still one of the most sought-after Twenty20 players, and went to Mumbai Indians for $887,000.
On Friday, the feelgood story of the Big Bash League, power cable operator Craig Simmons, will find out whether his record-breaking exploits for the Perth Scorchers were enough to score an IPL contract, and so will the player of the BBL, Ben Dunk.