Opener Gautam Gambhir today became the costliest cricketer in the IPL by fetching a whopping approximately 11.04 crore rupees (2.4 million U.S. dollars) on the first day of the auctions held in Bangalore. Indian players proved to be the biggest draw with three others going for more than two million U.S. dollars. In a high-profile auction, where Bollywood stars and corporate bigwigs were locked in a bidding war, Kolkata Knight Riders bought Gambhir for the mind-boggling sum, beating the previous high set by the English duo of Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff ( 1.55 million U.S. dollars) last season. Shah Rukh Khan was not present in person but his Kolkata Knight Riders proved to be the big spender of the day. The KKR also bought hard-hitting all-rounders Yusuf Pathan ( 9.66 crore rupees ) and Jacques Kallis ( 5.06 crore rupees) for the fourth edition of event to be held from April 8 to May 20. Gambhir, who was captain of the Delhi Daredevils last season, saw his price skyrocket 12 times from his base price of 200,000 U.S. dollars ( 92 lakh rupees ), while three other Indian players — Yusuf ( 2.1 million Dollars), Rohit Sharma ( 2 million) and Robin Uthappa (2.1 million) crossed the two million mark.Yusuf's younger brother Irfan, who has not played any cricket this season, was taken by Delhi Daredevils for a surprisingly high amount of 1.9 million U.S. dollars ( 8.74 crore rupees ). But there were some surprise names in the unsold list with former India and KKR captain Sourav Ganguly, West Indies batting star Chris Gayle and the legendary Brian Lara failing to find a buyer. There is still a slim chance of these players finding a team after their names come up again in the second round of bidding. The bidding trend at the auction at times appeared to defy logic but what was certain was that the franchises were willing to spend big money on the Indian players.Mahela Jayawardene was the most expensive foreign player going to Kochi at 1.5 million U.S. dollars ( 6.90 crore rupees). Cricket aside, Bollywood stars Preity Zinta and Shilpa Shetty provided the glamour quotient while liquor baron Vijay Mallya, his son Siddharth, Nita Ambani and Nusli Wadia added the corporate aura at the auction. Cricketing brains such as Anil Kumble, Stephen Fleming, Geoff Lawson and Darren Lehmann, who have been roped in either as coaches or mentors by the franchises, helped them work out the bidding strategies.