Graphic: who got who in the golden opportunities

Funny how all those fears that players are being burnt out by too much cricket diminish when rolls of banknotes are produced as an incentive. Strange, too, that a cricketer who only a month ago was a hate figure in India after alleging that he had been racially abused should be offered more than £100,000 a week to play in Hyderabad.

Yet these are odd times in world cricket. There was an expectation that many of the 80 international players who were being auctioned to the owners of the eight Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises in Bombay yesterday would attract more than their reserve price. What few had imagined was how much some of them would fetch.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the India wicketkeeper and one-day captain, was the biggest winner, pocketing $1.5 million (about £770,000) from the Madras franchise for his signature. Andrew Symonds, the Australia all-rounder, will earn about £695,000 for the 45-day tournament, which starts in April. Clearly all is forgiven after his row with Harbhajan Singh.

Symonds then announced that he would not be making himself available for Australia's proposed tour to Pakistan next month, citing security fears. Happily for Symonds's bank manager, it will also mean that he does not lose too much pay, although if he decides to tour the West Indies with Australia at the end of May, he will receive a reduced amount, as will all players who cannot commit to the whole Twenty20 competition.

There were four other dollar millionaires, all “icon” players who were reserved for their home cities and whose price was set at 15 per cent more than the next highest-paid at the franchise. Sourav Ganguly, the former India captain, can thank Ishant Sharma, a 19-year-old fast bowler who made his international debut only last May, for ensuring that he will earn more than £560,000. It is his prize for Sharma getting a bid of almost £490,000 to play in Calcutta.

Yet while the bidding reached fever pitch, one country was notable by its absence. As Brendon McCullum (signed for £360,000) and Jacob Oram (£347,000) relaxed after their tied one-day international against England in Napier yesterday, none of their opponents were having their bodies fought over by Indian magnates.

Not that there was a lack of demand. If Herschelle Gibbs can be bought for £300,000, Kevin Pietersen would surely be worth a fair bit more and even Luke Wright, yesterday's last-over hero for England, could expect to match the £90,000 offered for Scott Styris. But the England players are off the table because their international and county obligations clash with the IPL.

This is unlikely to change for the next few years. The ICC confirmed yesterday that the Future Tours Programme, which sets the international agenda, would not allow any window for the IPL until at least 2012. The county championship is not going to be moved, so for now English players will have to retire if they want the IPL's riches.

Andrew Flintoff, making his recovery from an ankle injury, said yesterday that he had no interest in taking the Indian rupee. “It's not an option for the English players,” Flintoff said. “Lancashire and the ECB have looked after me well and my concern is to get on the field for them.”

Yet there is a worry among the chief executives of the 18 first-class counties that the money being splashed out on the IPL signings will skew the market for recruiting overseas players. Hampshire are resigned to being without their captain, Shane Warne, who fetched a disappointing £232,000 when he joined Jaipur yesterday, until halfway through the season.

Mark Newton, the chief executive of Worcestershire, said that the IPL was “making life very difficult for signing an overseas player this season”. The county recently lost out on Shane Bond, the New Zealand fast bowler, who Hampshire, with deeper pockets, have signed as cover for Warne.

British broadcasters stay cool on coverage

A consortium of Sony and the World Sport Group spent more than $1 billion (about £515 million) for the ten-year broadcast rights to the IPL, yet British broadcasters are uncertain whether any of them will try to show the games in this country. The BBC said it would not bid for the tournament and Sky Sports is believed to have enough international cricket to fill its schedules in April and May. SET Asia, a subsidiary of Sony in Britain, remains the favourite to show the games on its pay-per-view satellite station (channel 782 on Sky Digital; £9.99 a month) but yesterday it said that no deal had been signed. In Australia the IPL will be broadcast free to air and live on Network Ten, a deliberate challenge to Channel Nine, the established cricket broadcaster.

Australian rules with Calcutta franchise

John Buchanan, the Queenslander who coached Australia to two World Cup titles and last winter's 5-0 Ashes series win over England, has taken on his first serious role since the 2007 World Cup. Buchanan will coach the Calcutta franchise, which will be captained by Sourav Ganguly and features players from six countries. Buchanan said that there would be no difficulty in persuading players from India, Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand, Zimbabwe and West Indies to work together. “It will make for an interesting cultural exchange, no doubt,” he said. He added that the IPL “has the potential to revolutionise the game”. Buchanan became the third Australian to take charge of an IPL franchise. Tom Moody will coach Mohali and Greg Shipperd will join Delhi.

Window pain for new tournament organisers

The IPL will not be given a window in the international calendar until at least 2012, the ICC said yesterday. The world governing body confirmed that the Future Tours Programme was set in stone for the next four years. International players who wish to compete in the IPL will have to get a no-objection certificate from their national board. It was recommended that the ICC and the Board of Control for Cricket in India work together to ensure that anti-corruption and anti-doping processes are put in place for the IPL and that a code of ethics is established for franchise owners. The panel also recommended that the 2011 World Cup in South Asia should be shortened from 47 days to 38, with the number of teams reduced by two to 14. The ICC executive board will vote on the proposals next month.

Sad sign of the times No1

The number of journalists mobbing Preity Zinta, a Bollywood starlet and co-owner of one of the eight Indian Premier League franchises, at the auction in the Oberoi Hilton in Bombay was estimated to be ten times more than the total crowd at the Wankhede Stadium, just down the road, for the final of the Duleep Trophy, India's leading first-class competition.

Sad sign of the times No2

How ironic that the ICC should announce yesterday that the number of associate countries who will compete in the next World Cup in 2011 will be cut from six to four. Those six countries who competed in the West Indies last year, such as Ireland, who reached the second stage, were each given a three-year development grant by the ICC of about £1million for 2006-09. Mahendra Singh Dhoni will earn three quarters of that for less than seven weeks' work.