Panaji, India - England players Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff fetched $1.55 million each at the Indian Premier League player auction on Friday, setting a record for the highest amount paid for a player in the Twenty20 competition.
Flintoff was snapped up by Chennai Super Kings, which last year set the previous record of $1.5 million for Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Bangalore's Royal Challengers secured Pietersen.
Bangalore's owner Vijay Mallya said he was prepared to pay more for Pietersen.
"It was a very worthwhile investment," Mallya told reporters after the first round of bidding.
"Team balance was important and Kevin was certainly important in maintaining that balance."
England players were not involved in the IPL last year, but have now been permitted by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to play for the first three weeks despite a clash with its own domestic season.
South African J.P. Duminy, who starred in his nation's recent successful tour of Australia, was sold for $950 000 (R9.5 million) to Mumbai Indians, more than three times his reserve price.
Australia paceman Shaun Tait was the first player auctioned, going to defending champions Rajasthan Royals for $375 000, where he will join former Australia teammate Shane Warne.
The prices are for each year of two-year contracts. Last year, the teams had to sign contracts for three years at bid prices.
Cricketers will get paid on a pro-rata basis depending on their availability for the duration of the six-week tournament. The 2009 IPL season will be held from April 10 to May 29. While England players will only be available for the opening weeks, Australian players will only join late after national team duty.
South African cricketer Tyron Henderson was sold to Rajasthan Royals for $650 000, more than six times his base price, while England all-rounder Ravi Bopara went for $450 000 to King's XI Punjab.
Delhi Daredevils bought England pair Paul Collingwood and Owais Shah for $275 000 each, while West Indies paceman Fidel Edwards went for $150 000 to Hyderabad's Deccan Chargers.
Royal Challengers bought New Zealander Jesse Ryder for $160 000, while his compatriot Kyle Mills went to Mumbai Indians for $150 000.
Chennai Super Kings added Sri Lankan Thilan Thushara to their lineup, snapping him for $140 000.
Teams were permitted to spend a maximum of $2 million on acquisitions this year, but that amount was adjusted downward for teams that had already signed some player contracts ahead of the auction.
This year's auction is different from that in 2008, when teams went out to pick their entire squad. Now, they only have to top it up with a few players or fill in vacancies caused by non-availability of some cricketers.
There were 50 players up at the auction, but teams had only 17 slots to fill this year.
The IPL governing body has permitted franchisees to terminate the contracts of the players from Pakistan bought at last year's auction after Pakistan's government prevented its cricketers playing in this year's event owing to political tension between the south Asian archrivals.
Players are allowed to miss IPL matches only due to injury or if they have to represent their national teams in tests or limited-overs internationals. - Sapa-AP