Cricket: More NZ cricketers in the IPL money

veteran allrounder Scott Styris attacted some interest and went to Chennai for US$200,000. Photo / APN

While New Zealand slumped to an embarrassing test defeat in Hamilton, a handful more of their leading players had cause to celebrate rich Indian Premier League contracts.

None of the New Zealanders in the extravagant auction could match the US$1 million ($1.32 million) contract secured by Ross Taylor yesterday when his services were snaffled by the Rajasthan Royals.

However, at least another five New Zealand players will contest the Twenty20 league starting on April 8.

New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori was purchased by the Bangalore Royal Challengers for US$550,000 and Brendon McCullum by the new Kochi franchise for US$475,000 while late last night allrounder James Franklin was signed for US$100,000 by the Mumbai Indians and spinner Nathan McCullum went to the Pune Warriors for the same figure.

No fewer than 264 players were up for grabs on the second day of the auction, with the majority of them failing to attract bids from the 10 franchises, who had spent most of their US$9 million cap on "marquee" players yesterday.

However, veteran allrounder Scott Styris attacted some interest and went to Chennai for US$200,000.

Four other New Zealanders were up for grabs in the early stages today but Grant Elliott, Gareth Hopkins, Jacob Oram and Kyle Mills failed to attract an offer.

Yesterday it took four minutes for hard-hitting batsman Taylor became a millionaire, with six franchises chasing his services and sending the price skyward to among the most expensive of the non-Indian players signed.

He and the rest of the New Zealand team have been reluctant to comment on the auction during the test which finished today with a humiliating 10-wicket loss to Pakistan.

Unfortunately for the victorious Pakistanis, they continue to miss out on the IPL bonanza for political reasons, with none of them included for the auction.

Yesterday the biggest purchases were made by the Kolkata Knight Riders franchise, which snapped up opener Gautam Gambhir for US$2.4 million and allrounder Yusuf Pathan for $2.1 million. Both players seemingly benefited from their recent form shown in one-day internationals against New Zealand.

The Indians eclipsed the tournament record price of England duo of Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff, who went for US$1.55 million each in 2009.

Former West Indies captain Brian Lara and a host of England's Ashes heroes were also among 353 players up for grabs at the two-day auction in Bangalore.

Also among the bidders is former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming, coach of the defending champion Chennai Super Kings.

The IPL has bounced back from its drop in fortunes last year after allegations of massive corruption, money-laundering and tax evasion, as well as secret deals to hide teams' real owners, and even links to India's criminal underworld.

IPL founder Lalit Modi - whose brash style personified the event - was thrown out by the BCCI, the sport's governing body in India, over accusations about his conduct and organisers hope this year's tournament from April 8 to May 22 will be fresh start.

- NZPA