Former Black Caps captain Brendon McCullum will once again be the highest paid New Zealander in this year's Indian Premier League.
Brendon McCullum playing for the Brisbane Heat in the Australian Big Bash League. Photo: © Photosport Ltd 2017 www.photosport.nz
McCullum was bought by the Daniel Vettori-coached Royal Challengers Bangalore for $770,000 NZD at the player auction.
He's joined by Colin de Grandhomme ($470,000) and Tim Southee ($214,000) in the side that also features Indian captain Virat Kohli and South Africa batsman AB de Villiers.
Current Black Caps captain Kane Williamson was the next highest New Zealander, going for $641,000 to Sunrisers Hyderbad.
New Zealand paceman Trent Boult fetched $470,000 from the Delhi Daredevils, down considerably from the $1.07 million he went for last season.
Joining him is Colin Munro, the world's number one ranked T20 batsmen, who was sold for $406,000.
All rounder Mitchell Santner was picked up for a modest $107,000 by the Chennai Super Kings.
Black Caps who went unsold at the auction include opener Martin Guptill, veteran Ross Taylor, spinner Ish Sodhi, all rounder Cory Anderson and wicket keepers Tom Latham and Luke Ronchi.
Black Caps opener Martin Guptill once again went unsold at the IPL player auction. Photo: Photosport
Pace bowlers Adam Milne, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry and Mitchell McClenaghan all went unsold as well.
At the other end of the scale was high profile England all rounder Ben Stokes who went for a whopping $2.67 million while Indian left-armer Jaydev Unadkat was sold for $2.46 million.
Also making headlines was 16-year-old Afghanistan spinner Mujeeb Zadran who was sold for $855,000 after he ripped through the New Zealand batting line up in their Under 19 World Cup quarter final in Christchurch. Fellow Afghani teenager, legspiner Rashid Khan, was sold for $1.92 million.
One of the biggest surprises of the auction belonged to West Indian master blaster Chris Gayle, who went unsold until the third round, eventually being picked up for $428,000 by Kings XI Punjab.
-RNZ
