England's Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff became the latest members of cricket's get-rich-quick club on Friday, fetching record salaries of $1.55 million each at the Indian Premier League player auction.
The second edition of the auction for India's Twenty20 league saw the England pair receive record per-season salaries despite being available for only half of the upcoming six-week competition.
Flintoff was snapped up by Chennai Super Kings, which last year set the previous record of $1.5 million for India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Bangalore's Royal Challengers secured Pietersen on a day in which a total of $7.65 million in salaries was bid for 17 players.
The two former England captains had reserve salaries around the $1 million mark despite being available for only the early part of the upcoming IPL season before returning to England duty.
Still, they were subject to strong bidding. Rajasthan Royals, the defending IPL champions, tried to secure both but got neither.
Bangalore's owner Vijay Mallya said he was prepared to pay even more for Pietersen, illustrating the eagerness of the franchise to find a catalyst after last year's poor season.
"It was a very worthwhile investment. Kevin topped our wish list going into the auction," Mallya told reporters.
"Team balance was important and Kevin was certainly important in maintaining that balance."
Flintoff's bowling will be of particular use for Chennai, which boasts a strong batting lineup.
"Flintoff's an outstanding all-rounder whom we targeted to improve our balance," said Chennai franchise head owner Narainswamy Srinivasan.
England players were not involved in the IPL last year, but were permitted by the England and Wales Cricket Board to play for the first three weeks of the upcoming 2009 campaign despite a clash the early part of its own domestic season.
Australia paceman Shaun Tait was the first player to be put up for bids from the eight franchisees, and went for $375,000 to Rajasthan, where he will join former Australia teammate Shane Warne.
The Tait purchase left Rajasthan with only $1.5 million remaining in its spending cap for the one free spot in its squad. That meant they were outbid for both Pietersen and Flintoff by Bangalore and Chennai respectively, as those franchises had not yet made a purchase when the England players came up for bidding.
Instead, Rajasthan laid out a surprisingly large amount for South Africa allrounder Tyron Henderson, who went for $650,000 _ the fourth-highest amount of the day and more than six times his reserve _ after Deccan Chargers forced up the price with persistent counter-bids.
Despite missing out on the two prized items at the auction, Rajasthan's new stake-holder and film star Shilpa Shetty said she was "happy with what we've got.".
The prices paid Thursday are for each year of two-year contracts. Last year, the teams had to sign contracts for three years.
The players will get their salaries on a prorata basis depending on their availability for the duration of the 2009 IPL season from April 10 to May 29. While England players will only be available for the opening three weeks, Australian players will only join late after national team duty, and the South Africans will also miss the first week.
South Africa's J.P. Duminy, who starred in his nation's recent successful tour of Australia, attracted Friday's third-highest bid when he was sold for $950,000 to Mumbai Indians, more than three times his reserve price.
The most dramatic bidding came for Bangladesh's Mashrafe bin Mortaza, whose reserve was set at $50,000 but soared to 12 times that amount before Kolkata Knight Riders clinched him for $600,000 after half an hour of counter bids from Kings XI Punjab.
"Mortaza's an allrounder whom we wanted, but you win some and you lose some," said King's XI owner and firm star Preity Zinta, whose team acquired England all-rounder Ravi Bopara for $450,000 and West Indies' Jerome Taylor for $150,000.
Mortaza's Bangladesh teammate Mohammad Ashraful went to Mumbai Indians at the base price of $75,000 in the second round after most teams had exhausted their 10-player quota of foreign players. Along with Ashraful and Duminy, Mumbai's other purchase was New Zealand's Kyle Mills for $150,000.
Delhi Daredevils bought England pair Paul Collingwood and Owais Shah for $275,000 each, while Deccan Chargers picked up the West Indies pair of Fidel Edwards ($150,000) and Dwayne Smith ($100,000).
Chennai added Sri Lanka's Thilan Thushara to their lineup for $140,000, and Australian George Bailey, who was the day's cheapest acquisition at $50,000.
Of the 50 players available for bidding, those who did not attract bids included Australia's Stuart Clark and Phil Jaques, England's Samit Patel, South Africa's Ashwell Prince and Andre Nel, and Bangladesh's Shakib Al-Hasan _ ranked the best one-day allrounder in the world by the ICC rankings.
IPL chairman Lalit Modi said the number of unsold high-profile players was the natural consequence of teams having little room to move under rules restricting foreign players to ten per franchise.
"More unsold players is a result of limited slots, the teams had only 17 slots to fill," Modi said.
In 2008, teams had to pick their entire squad. This time they only had to top up their playing lists with a few players to fill in vacancies.
Some vacancies were created by the withdrawal of Pakistan players from the league due to political tensions between the south Asian neighbors.
Bollywood choreographer Shiamak Davar is all set to tutor Angels - the cheerleaders of superstar Shah Rukh Khan's Indian Premier League (IPL) team Kolkata Knight Riders. 
