Bangalore: Five players &mdash; Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Karthik, Kevin Pietersen, Glen Maxwell and Mitchell Johnson &mdash; bagged million-dollar contracts even as the eight franchise teams pointedly ignored Sri Lankan and English cricketers on the opening day of the Indian Premier League (IPL) players&rsquo; auction here yesterday.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2014/feb/13anderson.jpg" alt="" /> Mumbai Indians bagged all-rounder Corey Anderson for Rs 4.5 crore. The Kiwi recently set a ODI world record by hitting a 36-ball century&nbsp;
Among the leading stars who remained unsold on the opening day were Sri Lanka&rsquo;s Mahela Jayawardene, and South Africans Vernon Philander and Wayne Parnell. The auction will resume today when the uncapped and unsold players will be available for bids.
Royal Challengers Bangalore picked up Yuvraj at Rs 14 crore, while Delhi Daredevils made a successful bid for Karthik at Rs 12.5 crore.
Royal Challengers appeared a bit miffed that they paid out an additional Rs.4 crore to Yuvraj after they bid Rs.10 crore only to see the auctioneer Richard Madley re-opened the bid to allow Kolkata Knight Riders into the ring. The bid eventually ended at Rs.14 crore in favour of RCB after KKR pulled out at Rs 13.5 crore.
Pietersen, unceremoniously dropped from the England squad earlier this month following the disastrous Ashes tour of Australia, went back to Delhi Daredevils who used the Right To Match to keep the hard-hitting batsman for Rs 9 crore.
Kings XI Punjab successfully bid for fast bowler Mitchell Johnson for Rs 6.5 crore ($1.08 million) and fellow-all-rounder Glenn Maxwell for Rs 6 crore.
Also winning a lucrative contract was 23-year old Kiwi Corey Anderson who recently set a ODI World record of 36-ball century as Mumbai Indians bagged him for Rs 4.5 crore and also former Aussie batsman Mike Hussey for Rs 5 crore.
With the Sri Lankans scheduled to tour England this summer, the franchises were obviously averse to bidding for players from these two countries.
Among the big losers were the Pathan brothers, Irfan and Yusuf, and Saurabh Tiwary all of whom commanded far less price.
Yusuf, bought by Knight Riders in 2011 for $2.1 million, had to settle for Rs.3.25 crore ($540,000) with the same team. Irfan whom the now-defunct Pune Warriors had bought for $1.9 million in 2011, will now play for Sunrisers Hyderabad who won him for Rs.2.4 crore ($400,000).
Tiwary was bought for $1.6 million by Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2011, but this time around, he managed only a contract Rs 70 lakh ($116,000).

Heading into the Indian Premier League 7 auction yesterday having done their homework, most franchises were spot-on in their choice of players on Day One in Bangalore

IPL 7 auction: Franchises happy with their purchases

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IPL 7 auction: Franchises happy with their purchases

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